PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Sweeney Real Estate has arranged the $1 million sale of an industrial facility in Providence. Located at 382-420 and 780 Harris Ave., the 21,649-square-foot property is located on nearly one acre. Thomas Sweeney, of Sweeney Real Estate represented the buyer, Partial Research Group LLC, in the transaction. Jim DeRentis of Residential Properties represented the seller, Bone House LLC.
GROVELAND, FLA. — The Kroger Co. and Ocado, an online grocery retailer based in England, have selected Groveland as the second city to house the partnership’s customer fulfillment center (CFC). Kroger has committed to build 20 CFCs in partnership with Ocado. In November, the partnership announced that Monroe, Ohio will be the site of the first CFC. The Groveland center will consist of an automated warehouse facility with digital and robotic capabilities. The CFC will span 375,000 square feet at American Way near U.S. Highway 27, about 31 miles west of Orlando. The partnership is scheduled to break ground later this year and open the center in 2021.
SPRINGBORO, OHIO — NorthMarq Capital has arranged a $4.3 million loan for the refinancing of South Pioneer Industrial, a 131,000-square-foot industrial building in Springboro. MCM Electronics occupies the facility, which is located at 405 S. Pioneer Blvd. Noah Juran of NorthMarq arranged the five-year loan, which features a 25-year amortization schedule. A local bank provided the loan.
GARLAND, TEXAS — Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services has negotiated a 21,500-square-foot industrial lease at 2306 Sherwin St. in Garland, a northeastern suburb of Dallas. Jason Finch and Brian Pafford of Bradford Commercial represented the tenant, DFD Movers Inc., in the lease negotiations. The landlord was self-represented.
FLAT ROCK, MICH. — Ford has unveiled plans to begin producing battery electric vehicles at its Flat Rock assembly plant in Southeast Michigan. Ford plans to invest more than $850 million in the Flat Rock assembly plant through 2023, adding a second shift and approximately 900 new jobs. The plant investment also includes funding to build the next-generation Mustang and is the bulk of a $900 million investment in Ford’s operations in Southeast Michigan. Ford also said it will begin building an all-electric SUV starting in 2020 at its Cuautitlan, Mexico plant. Production of Ford’s first autonomous vehicles will begin in 2021 for deployment in commercial use.
CHICAGO — Cawley Chicago has brokered the sale of a 70,000-square-foot industrial building in Chicago for an undisclosed price. The property is located at 3950 S. Karlov Ave. Frank Melchert and Stevan Arandjelovic of Cawley represented the seller, PanHellenic Scholarship Foundation. The buyer was not disclosed.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Magnus Development Partners has broken ground on Midway Logistics IV, a 200,000-square-foot speculative industrial building within Lexington County Industrial Park in Columbia. The tilt-up, multi-tenant building will feature 32-foot clear heights, 16 dock doors, two 12-by-14-foot drive-in doors, a 210-foot shared truck court, LED motion-detected lighting and an ESFR sprinkler system. Magnus expects to deliver the facility in the third quarter. Colliers International will handle leasing efforts on behalf of the developer.
LITHIA SPRINGS, GA. — Liberty Property Trust has signed Sugar Foods Corp. to a full-building, 247,000-square-foot lease at 875 Maxham Road in Lithia Springs. Located within Westfork Distribution Center, Liberty Property acquired the building in 2013 and has since made capital improvements, including creating a loop road to optimize traffic flow, expanding the truck courts and adding trailer storage to support modern logistics requirements. Randall Bryan of King Industrial Realty Inc. represented Sugar Foods in the lease transaction. Mark Hawks and Todd Barton of CBRE represented the landlord.
DENVER — Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners has purchased a 28.3-acre land parcel at the southwest corner of South Chambers Road and Compark Boulevard within Compark Business Park in Southeast Denver. The buyer plans to develop EDGE 470 on the site. Construction of the 334,000-square-foot, Class A industrial/flex campus will take place in two phases. Slated for delivery in first-quarter 2020, Phase I will include two approximately 80,000-square-foot buildings on 12.8 acres. Each building will feature prominent E-470 tenant signage opportunities, 24-foot clear ceilings, 10-foot glass lines, ESFR sprinklers, multiple loading capabilities, car charging stations and an environmentally responsible design.
The combined greater Philadelphia industrial markets closed 2018 with 718,266 square feet of positive absorption, according to research from NKF. Year-over-year, overall vacancy declined 20 basis points to 5.5 percent, while warehouse vacancy increased 140 basis points to 6.3 percent. 3.4 million square feet delivered over the past twelve months with 2.3 million square feet designated as warehouse space. The Southeastern Pennsylvania industrial market closed the year with a total of 264,511 square feet in negative absorption. Year-over-year, total vacancy for all property types increased 70 basis points to 6.2 percent. Philadelphia County accounted for a majority of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s occupancy gains, closing the year with 854,488 square feet of positive absorption. This was largely due to significant gains in occupancy that occurred in the first quarter. During the first three months of the year, Dependable Distribution moved into 332,640 square feet at 9801 Blue Grass Road and 185,000 square feet at 11200 Roosevelt Boulevard. In addition, Rainbow moved into 365,000 square feet at 2951 Grant Avenue, also in the first quarter. The negative absorption in the Southeastern Pennsylvania suburban market is not a sign that demand has slowed, quite the opposite. Ecommerce and distribution companies are aggressively seeking high-bay …