Like many Southeastern markets, the Charlotte industrial market largely hit the pause button from mid-March until June due to COVID-19. While the impacts of the health crisis remain fluid, the market is showing some signs of life, and trends that have long been at play are not likely to be reversed. For the past 90 days, the market has seen a significant drop in leasing and sales activity. The market was a bit sluggish in 2019, but experienced good activity in the first quarter prior to area shutdowns. Asking rents rose 5 percent year-over-year to $4.81 per square foot as new space is being added to the market at a higher price point. That rental rate is a record high for the Charlotte warehouse and distribution market. Most of the recent growth has occurred in the Cabarrus County, Stateline and Airport/West submarkets. Developers continue to fill demand for modern e-commerce, third-party logistics and general distribution space. Additional deliveries will keep upward pressure on vacancy in the near-term, but overall conditions should remain healthy thanks to strong economic tailwinds and Charlotte’s proximity to key East Coast transportation corridors and population centers. Absorption declined significantly over the past 12 months, from 5.3 …
NEW YORK CITY — Amazon has preleased a 1-million-square-foot, build-to-suit industrial warehouse located at 55-15 Grand Ave. in Queens, according to reports from Business Insider and City Biz List. A joint venture between New York City-based developer RXR Realty and Los Angeles-based developer LBA Realty plans to demolish a former factory structure to construct a new build-to-suit facility for the Seattle-based e-commerce giant. The four-story facility will feature a rooftop parking structure that will house a fleet of Amazon’s delivery vehicles. The construction schedule was undisclosed.
MEMPHIS, TENN. — Gelt Inc. has acquired eight self-storage properties comprising 3,867 units in metro Memphis for $41 million. The portfolio, which totals 490,187 square feet, was 91 percent leased at the time of sale. There are five facilities in Memphis; two in Olive Branch, Miss.; and one in Nesbit, Miss. The single-story properties were built between 1972 and 2006 and feature a mix of drive-up, indoor and climate-controlled units. Portfolio-wide, the unit sizes range from 5 square feet to 430 square feet and average 141 square feet. Citizen Storage will manage all eight properties. Luke Elliott and Michael Mele of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Merit Hill Capital, in the transaction.
KENOSHA, WIS. — Zilber Property Group has broken ground on a 23,359-square-foot speculative industrial building within the Business Park of Kenosha in Southeast Wisconsin. Known as Zilber Industrial 4, the facility will feature a clear height of 24 feet, two dock positions, one drive-in door and 26 car parking spaces. Completion is slated for this fall. The project team includes Partners In Design Architects, Riley Construction and Pinnacle Engineering Group. Sergio Chapa and Michael Prost of Newmark Knight Frank will market the building for lease.
DALLAS — Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), a global provider of data colocation services, has completed a $142 million expansion project at its Dallas Infomart Data Center campus. The California-based company’s Dallas campus is located at 1950 N. Stemmons Freeways, spans roughly 1.6 million square feet and offers a power capacity of 60 megawatts. The project represents that first phase of a larger development and provides 72,000 square feet of colocation space for data storage. Future expansion phases may provide as much as 144,000 square feet of colocation space. Equinix purchased the property in 2018 from ASB Real Estate Investments for roughly $800 million.
CORSICANA, TEXAS — Advantage Construction and Forge Building Co. have broken ground on a 278-unit expansion project at Mini-West Storage, a self-storage facility located in Corsicana, about 50 miles south of Dallas. The project will add 39,500 net rentable square feet of climate- and non-climate-controlled space to the facility, which originally opened in 1987 and now features approximately 700 units. Texas Community National Bank provided construction financing for the project, which is expected to be complete in December.
CHANDLER, ARIZ. — Westcore has purchased an industrial warehouse situated on 16.5 acres at 2550 N. Nevada St. in Chandler. Greenlaw sold the property for $38 million. At the time of acquisition, the 164,486-square-foot, Class A facility was fully leased to a global e-commerce company. The secured warehouse distribution building, which was extensively renovated, features 30-foot clear heights, extensive power, ESFR sprinklers, ample loading and newly designed and constructed office space. Jeff Chiate, Will Strong and Mike Adey of Cushman & Wakefield, with support from Steve Larsen of JLL, represented the seller, while Westcore was self-represented in the deal.
WEST SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Dermody Properties has broken ground on LogistiCenter at Southport, cross-dock industrial building situated on 22.7 acres in West Sacramento. The company is working with Deacon Construction as general contractor and local development partners Tom Schaal and Mark Heavey to develop the 379,161-square-foot property within Southport Business Park. Slated for completion in first-quarter 2021, the building will offer 36-foot clear heights, 58 dock-high doors, four drive-in doors, 106 trailer stalls, 222 car parking stalls and a 135-foot truck court. Plans also include an ESFR fire protection system and a seven-inch concrete floor with concrete tilt walls, as well as a build-to-suit office space.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — The Kislak Company Inc. has brokered the sale of a 32,132-square-foot industrial property in Allentown. Located at 2330 26th St. SW, the single-story building was constructed in 1966 and features a clear height of 18.5 feet, four loading docks and one drive-in door. The property was fully leased at the time of sale. The property offers convenient access to Interstate 78, State Route 309 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Nearby airports include Lehigh Valley International Airport and the Trenton-Mercer Airport. Matt Weilheimer of Kislak Co. represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Davis Briones, also of Kislak Co., represented the buyer, Mitchell Partners Group LLC. The sales price was undisclosed.
MESQUITE, TEXAS — The City Council of Mesquite, located east of Dallas, has approved a proposal for a 280-acre industrial park, a project that is expected to generate about $200 million in capital investment in land, infrastructure and construction. Dallas-based Wynne/Jackson has been tapped to lead development of the project, preliminary plans for which call for six industrial buildings ranging in size from 120,000 to 1 million square feet. The site is located along the Interstate 20 corridor in an area of town known as Trinity Pointe Mesquite and will ultimately be able to accommodate as much as 3 million square feet of industrial space. The development team expects to break ground by early 2021, but notes that strong demand could necessitate an earlier start date.