WOOSTER, OHIO — Minnesota Ltd. has signed a 9,384-square-foot industrial lease in Wooster, about 35 miles southwest of Akron. The 7.4-acre property is located at 460 W. Henry St. Minnesota Ltd. is the contractor for Kinder Morgan Utopia Pipeline. This is one of several Minnesota Ltd. facilities and laydown yards throughout the area, supporting the 215-mile pipeline of natural gas. Bryce Custer of NAI Spring represented all parties in the lease transaction.
LOXLEY AND BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Grandbridge Real Estate Capital has arranged three loans totaling $37.4 million for industrial facilities in Alabama. The financing includes a $13.1 million loan for I-10 Business Park, a 977,520-square-foot industrial/bulk warehouse complex in the Mobile suburb of Loxley; a $12.8 million loan for Oxmoor South, a 528,428-square-foot warehouse in Birmingham; and a $11.5 million loan for a 515,000-square-foot distribution center in Birmingham. William Silsbee of Grandbridge arranged all three loans through unnamed life insurance companies.
WALKER, MICH. — Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. has acquired a 343,483-square-foot industrial building in Walker, near Grand Rapids, for $32.1 million. The building is situated on 61 acres at 3466 Shippers Drive. The property is net leased to FedEx Ground Packaging System Inc. for 15 years.
BEDFORD, ANDOVER & BILLERICA, MASS. — Avison Young, as buyer representative for Atlantic Management, has arranged the purchase of three office/flex buildings in Massachusetts. Atlantic Management acquired the 211,377-square-foot portfolio from Wheelock-Novaya for $26.5 million. The assets are located at 15 Crosby Dr. in Bedford, 200 Bulfinch Dr. in Andover and 5 Federal St. in Billerica. Tenants at the properties include Ocular Therapeutix and Becton Dickinson. Scott Jamieson of Avison Young worked with Joe Zink and Steve Wyman of Atlantic Management on the buyer’s side, while Wheelock-Novaya was represented by Gary Kamin of Wheelock Street Capital and Scott Tully and Shawn Hawthorne of Novaya Real Estate Ventures.
NEW YORK CITY — Simone Development Companies has brokered a long-term relocation lease for LKQ Hunts Point Auto Parts in New York City. The company is relocating to a different location in the Bronx. Joanna Simone of Simone Development, which owns the property at 1390 Spofford Ave., negotiated the 15-year lease for 73,000 square feet with LKQ Hunts Point Auto Parts. The tenant was previously located at 1480 Sheridan Expressway. The one-story warehouse/distribution building features 26-foot clear ceiling heights, 11 loading docks, three drive-in bays and on-site parking.
IRVINE, CALIF. — Karma Automotive has purchased the 262,463-square-foot Kawasaki USA headquarters in Irvine for $56.2 million. The facility is located at 9950 Jeronimo Road. The luxury hybrid plug-in vehicle manufacturer had previously leased the facility in August 2016. The company plans to add a Branded Experience Center for its new Revero luxury sedan and employee amenities to the facility. Kevin Leonard of Heathwest Realty represented Karma Automotive. CBRE’s Gregg Haly and Jeff Carr represented the seller, Bixby Land Co., in this transaction.
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — Northwell Health has leased 50,000 square feet of office and industrial space at 2500 Marcus Ave. in Lake Success, a property owned by Nassimi Realty. With the lease, the property is 100 percent occupied. Nearby employers include Long Island Jewish Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital. Daniel Brandel of CBRE represented Northwell in the transaction. Northwell Health is one of New York’s largest healthcare providers with 21 hospitals and over 550 outpatient practices. Nassimi Realty is a privately held development and investment company specializing in the redevelopment of existing properties.
GARLAND, TEXAS — Lee & Associates has brokered the sale of two industrial properties totaling 24,420 square feet in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro of Garland. The first property is a 12,000-square-foot building located at 2805 National Drive and the second is a 12,420-square-foot property located at 2901 National Drive. Brett Lewis of Lee & Associates represented the seller, BBI Realty LLC. Additional terms of sale were not released.
JOLIET, ILL. — The Opus Group has unveiled plans to construct a 1.2 million-square-foot industrial warehouse in Joliet within the I-80 submarket of Chicago. The 75-acre site is located near the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and Hollywood Road. Opus, which purchased the land from Ketone Partners, will develop the project in a joint venture with AEW Capital Management LP on behalf of one of its institutional separate account clients. The building will feature 36-foot clear heights, more than 200 loading docks, up to 450 trailer positions, parking for 225 cars and an ESFR sprinkler system. Construction of the speculative building will begin this spring with completion slated for summer 2018. Opus Development Co. will serve as developer, Opus Design Build will serve as design-builder and Opus AE Group will provide architectural and structural engineer services. Eric Tresslar and Steve Connolly of NAI Hiffman will market the property for lease.
The Chicagoland industrial market has started 2017 with a full head of steam and doesn’t appear ready to cool down anytime soon. With historically low vacancy rates, high net absorption and strong tenant demand, the outlook is positive for new construction in the pipeline, even with the recent uptick in interest rates. Net absorption of industrial space topped 19.3 million square feet in 2016, outpacing the 18.2 million square feet of new product delivered, according to CoStar Group. The metro Chicago vacancy rate at the end of the year was 6.5 percent, a drop of about 50 basis points over the previous 12 months. As for 2017, we see increasing competition for well-located land sites, especially from speculative developers who see opportunity in the rising demand for state-of-the-art facilities equipped for today’s sophisticated users. The jungle effect We have seen strong activity from tenants ranging from global logistics providers to regional distributors. However, a large share of the total net absorption in 2016 came from one well-known and much sought-after tenant — Amazon. The retailing giant has been leasing warehouse/distribution space at a rapid pace, and it seems as though every other week we are reading about a new distribution method, business …