ROUND ROCK, TEXAS — NitNeil Partners, a self-storage investment firm with offices in Atlanta, Austin and Tampa, has purchased a 678-unit self-storage facility in Round Rock, a northern suburb of Austin. The newly built, multi-story property spans approximately 78,000 rentable square feet of climate-controlled space. Life Storage manages the property, which is NitNeil’s second in metro Austin, including one under construction within an East Austin opportunity zone. Bill Bellomy and Michael Johnson of Bellomy & Co. represented both NitNeil Partners and the Austin-based seller in the transaction.
HUMBLE, TEXAS — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has negotiated a 41,675-square-foot industrial lease extension at 14428 Smith Road in Humble, a northern suburb of Houston. Garrett Gibbons, Trace Elrod and John Brewer of NKF represented the tenant, Global Heat Transfer Houston, in the lease negotiations. Capital Real Estate Commercial represented the undisclosed landlord.
TEXARKANA, TEXAS — Loc Performance Products, a Michigan-based defense contractor, has signed a 12,000-square-foot industrial lease at TexAmericas Center’s campus in Texarkana. The facility will provide kitting, assembly and machining services to the defense industry. Loc is in the process of hiring new employees to work at the facility.
YORK, PA. — National real estate development and investment firm CRG will develop The Cubes at York, a 311,920-square-foot speculative distribution warehouse in York. The location is near the I-81/I-78 Industrial Corridor, just south of Harrisburg, and will be one of seven North American industrial properties in “The Cubes” brand that is owned and developed by CRG. Construction is expected to begin during fourth-quarter 2019. Clayco will be the design-builder on the project and its subsidiary, the Lamar Johnson Collective, is the architect.
STONE MOUNTAIN, GA. — Seefried Industrial Properties will develop a 700,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center in Stone Mountain on the Gwinnett-DeKalb county line. Previously dubbed “Project Rocket,” the center will house 1,000 Amazon employees, who will pick, pack and ship customer orders. Jobs will include human resources, operations management, safety, security, finance and information technology. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Amazon could spend up to $200 million on the project. A timeline for completion was not disclosed.
FOREST PARK, GA. — The Kroger Co. and Ocado, an online grocery retailer based in the United Kingdom, will build a $55 million customer fulfillment center in Forest Park that will create 400 jobs. According to Georgia’s governor’s office, the two companies could invest upwards of $121 million in the center. The announcement of the center, which will be an automated warehouse facility with digital and robotic capabilities, comes on the heels of Kroger and Ocado breaking ground on their first fulfillment center in Monroe, Ohio. The two companies have committed to build 20 centers across the country. This is the second announced center in the Southeast, following a center in Central Florida. The Forest Park customer fulfillment center will be located at 2000 Anvil Block Road within the Gillem Logistics Center and will occupy 375,000 square feet. Kroger already occupies a 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse within the same industrial park. A ground breaking is scheduled for later this year with completion slated for 2021.
TAMPA, FLA. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $69.3 million sale of Tampa Distribution Center, a six-building, 955,000-square-foot industrial facility in Tampa. Tampa Distribution Center consists of six dock-high, front-load and flow-through industrial buildings on 51 acres. Suite sizes range from 2,500 to 90,000 square feet and average 15,000 square feet. The property was 94.6 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Lansing Building Products, Consolidated Container Co., Feeding America Tampa Bay, Courier Express, General Insulation Co. Inc. and Storopack Inc. The center is situated at 1212 N. 50th St., adjacent to UPS’ Tampa hub, five miles from Port of Tampa and 12 miles from Tampa International Airport. Mike Davis, Rick Brugge and Rick Colon of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, High Street Realty Co., in the transaction. Blackstone’s U.S. industrial real estate operating platform, Link Industrial Properties, was the buyer. Julia Silva and Jessica Mizrahi of Cushman & Wakefield have been retained to lease the property.
NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield has negotiated the $25 million sale of a 52,000-square-foot warehouse property in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. Cushman & Wakefield’s Stephen Preuss, Joshua King and Andreas Efthymiou represented the buyer, California-based investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., which plans to convert the warehouse into a research and development office with lab space. The seller was Prestone Realty LLC, which has occupied the building since 2005.
HUMBLE, TEXAS — Plastic manufacturer Starplast USA LLC has signed a 56,195-square-foot industrial lease at 8575 Volta Drive in Humble, a northern suburb of Houston. According to LoopNet Inc., the property was built in 2016 and spans 168,400 square feet. John Hornbuckle of Cypressbrook Co. represented the landlord, Nuveen Real Estate, in the lease negotiations. Ryan Fuselier of JLL represented the tenant.
FENTON, MO. — Stan Johnson Co. has brokered the sale of Cassens Business Center in Fenton for $14 million. The multi-tenant industrial facility spans 132,279 square feet and is located at 2391 Cassens Drive. At the time of sale, the property was fully leased to two national tenants as well as a regional company. Zach Harris and Brad Pepin of Stan Johnson represented the seller, Green Street St. Louis, a Missouri-based developer. RCRL LLC, a New Jersey-based individual investor, purchased the building.