KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Iconex, a provider of label solutions and paper receipts, has renewed its 88,461-square-foot industrial lease at Cambridge Business Park in Kansas City. Copaken Brooks owns Cambridge Business Park, which totals 13 buildings and 464,521 square feet of light industrial and office space. There are more than 45 long-standing tenants at the property. Iconex has been a tenant since 2007. Its new lease goes through 2030. John Stafford of Colliers represented Iconex, while Jeremiah Dean represented Copaken Brooks on an internal basis.
Industrial
By David Berglund, JLL The Minneapolis-St. Paul industrial real estate market continues to show strength as tenant demand and leasing activity keep vacancies low and absorption steady. In the second quarter of 2023, there were more than 4 million square feet of leasing and 523,641 square feet of net absorption, which pushed vacancy rates down slightly to 3.6 percent. In addition, roughly 800,000 square feet of speculative development was removed from the market. Currently, there is just 2.7 square foot of available space for every square foot of tenant demand. Year-to-date absorption was nearly 2 million square feet, led by the Northwest submarket with nearly 1.3 million square feet of that total since January. The Northwest submarket has been leading in absorption in four of the past six quarters. Asking rents increased to $6.21 per square foot and first-year rents continued to climb to $9.13 per square foot, reflecting an 11.5 percent growth over 2022. With very low vacancy and limited supply coming, we are continuing to see favorable conditions for landlords in the Twin Cites industrial market. New high-water marks for rents will likely continue into 2024. Investment sales, however, tapered off significantly as the impact of several incremental …
SCHERTZ, TEXAS — Atlanta-based developer Ackerman & Co., in partnership with Baltisse US Inc., has completed Doerr Lane Logistics Center, a 307,000-square-foot industrial project in Schertz, a northeastern suburb of San Antonio. The Class A, tilt-wall distribution center features 32-foot clear heights, 78 overhead dock doors, an ESFR sprinkler system and parking for 318 automobiles and 96 trailers. Beaty Palmer Architects designed the project, and Kopplow Construction served as the general contractor. Partners Real Estate is the leasing agent.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Victaulic, a producer of piping and fire protection products, has acquired a 213,581-square-foot, newly built industrial property in Fort Worth. The developer, Stonemont Financial Group, broke ground on the project in late 2021 with plans to deliver a speculative facility. Victaulic approached Stonemont several months into construction to purchase the shell, which the company then designed and built out to its specifications. Trey Fricke of Lee & Associates represented Victaulic in the acquisition of the property, which features 98 parking spaces, 35 trailer stalls and 38 dock doors. Ann Jaggars and Tony Creme of KBC Advisors represented Stonemont.
SAN ANTONIO — Houston-based brokerage firm Finial Group has secured a 6,800-square-foot industrial lease at 1053 Grubb St. in San Antonio. According to LoopNet Inc., the property, which offers renovated office and warehouse space, was built in 1979 and features 14- to 18-foot clear heights. David Durham, Patrick Rubsamen and Jack Gaffney of Finial Group represented the landlord, Sea of Japan Holdco LLC, in the lease negotiations.
PHILADELPHIA — Atlanta-based developer Portman has acquired 169 acres in West Philadelphia for the construction of I-76 Trade Center, an industrial park that will ultimately total approximately 1.9 million square feet. To be developed in two phases, I-76 Trade Center will be a three-building campus, with vertical construction of Phase I scheduled to begin in the fall. Phase I will feature a 636,120-square-foot building that is slated for an August 2024 delivery. Phase II will include a 1.1 million square-foot-facility and a 154,440-square-foot building. Portman expects to have substantially completed the project by the first quarter of 2025.
SHAWNEE, KAN. — Standard Motor Products has leased Building II at Hunt Midwest’s Heartland Logistics Park in Shawnee. The global manufacturer and distributor of premium automotive parts will relocate from Edwardsville, Kan., to the 574,732-square-foot facility. The new space provides the tenant with 200,000 more square feet than its current footprint. The 113-acre Heartland Logistics Park will support more than 1 million square feet of industrial space. Plans call for a third building totaling 846,450 square feet and a fourth building spanning 187,200 square feet. The project team for Building II included Renaissance Infrastructure Consulting for civil engineering, Finkle + Williams Architecture for building design and Brinkmann Constructors as the general contractor. Louis Pascuzzi and Mark Long of Newmark Zimmer represented Standard Motor Products in the lease. Ed Elder and John Stafford of Colliers are handling leasing of the park.
PARK HILLS, MO. — An affiliate of Phoenix Investors has acquired a 515,913-square-foot industrial facility at 1000 Taylor Ave. in Park Hills, about 65 miles south of St. Louis. The property was constructed in 1976 and received additions and upgrades in 2018. The building features 18 docks, 16 overhead drive-in doors and clear heights up to 40 feet. The facility was formerly inhabited by PGP Glass USA Inc. (PGP) and owned by Piramal Glass, an Indian company owned by Blackstone Capital. Once the city’s largest employer, PGP closed in March 2022. The purchase price was undisclosed.
AURORA, ILL. — Meridian Design Build has completed construction of a 392,973-square-foot speculative industrial project on behalf of developer Logistics Property Co. in Aurora. The building features a clear height of 36 feet, 56 loading docks, two drive-in doors, 403 auto parking stalls and 26 exterior trailer parking stalls. An undisclosed tenant leased the entire building prior to completion. NAI Hiffman marketed the building for lease. The project team included Partners in Design Architects and civil engineer Webster McGrath & Ahlberg.
CHICAGO — Maverick Commercial Mortgage Inc. has arranged a first mortgage loan totaling $7.5 million for a multi-tenant industrial building located at 1120 E. 89th St. in Chicago. The property is fully leased to two tenants, Chicago Transit Authority and SCR Transportation. The borrower was 1788 Holdings LLC, a Maryland-based real estate investment firm specializing in purchasing and repositioning older light industrial properties and industrial outdoor storage properties. A regional bank provided the five-year loan, which will be swapped at closing to provide a competitive five-year, fixed-rate loan. A portion of the loan proceeds will be used for capital improvements to the property post-closing.