EQT Exeter picks up 8 buildings in Delaware County for $48.45M

EQT Exeter has picked up an eight-building industrial portfolio in Naamans Creek Business Center in Boothwyn for $48.45 million. 

The seller of the buildings, which total 265,757 square feet on 45 acres and were 100% leased at the time of sale. The properties are located off Route 322 and just a short distance from Interstate 95 and Philadelphia International Airport.

The buildings were assembled in three separate transactions that totaled around $28 million. The transaction with EQT Exeter highlights how the value of these flex and industrial buildings have grown over time. 

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

How fierce is demand for industrial properties? Prologis just paid $45M in bidding war for longtime parking lot

When InterPark Holdings put 4700 Island Ave. in Philadelphia up for sale, the company had decided the property’s future lay beyond serving as off-site parking for those flying in and out of Philadelphia International Airport.

The 271,000-square-foot building on nearly 19 acres had originally been developed decades ago as a refrigeration facility before InterPark operated it as a parking lot for more than 20 years.

“That business ran its course and that property ran its course,” said Andrew McLaughlin, senior vice president at InterPark. “The highest and best use was no longer parking.”

With that in mind, InterPark put 4700 Island on the market in April. The timing couldn’t have been better.

There were nearly 200 non-disclosure agreements signed in pursuit of the property and multiple rounds of bidding. In what McLaughlin described as an “unusually competitive process,” Prologis Inc., an industrial real estate behemoth, paid $45 million for the property.

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Philly Industrial Vacancy Rate Drops to All-Time Low

Flush with cash from stimulus checks and record savings accrued while social distancing, U.S. households continue to spend at record levels on consumer goods heading into the second half of 2021.

This spending splurge is also driving voracious demand for logistics space, pushing Philadelphia’s industrial vacancy rate below 5% for the first time on record during the second quarter.

Philadelphia is also leading the U.S. in logistics property rent growth, with year-over-year rent gains now surpassing 10%. This is largely because of the market’s shortage of modern industrial space and Philly’s emergence as a key point for distributors delivering goods along the densely populated Interstate 95 corridor.

The volume of industrial space under construction has more than tripled in the Philadelphia area since the start of the pandemic, raising risks that supply eventually could overwhelm demand. But all signs suggest that leasing will be up to the task of filling the more than 20 million square feet of projects set to deliver by the end of 2022.

U.S. consumers haven’t even begun to draw down the record savings they’ve accrued over the past 18 months, meaning high levels of retail spending should keep distributors devouring industrial space well into next year.

*Article courtesy of Costar

For more information about Philly industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Gambone Group jettisons Montco industrial portfolio for more than $210M

Gambone Group has sold a portfolio of 43 of its industrial buildings in Montgomery County for a little more than $210 million, seizing on a market that is pricing warehouse and flex properties at unprecedented levels.

MRP Industrial was the buyer in the off-market transaction, according to multiple sources. The properties total 1.4 million square feet and give MRP Industrial a footprint in the western part of Montgomery County mainly along Route 422, Egypt Road and Germantown Pike in an area stretching from King of Prussia to Pottstown.

Efforts to reach representatives from Gambone and MRP Industrial were unsuccessful.

Established in 1958 by three brothers and based in East Norriton, Gambone built a portfolio totaling 3 million square feet that was focused on single-story industrial and flex buildings as well as multifamily, office and retail properties.

Baltimore-based MRP Industrial is an affiliate of MRP Realty. Over the last eight years, the firm has accumulated a portfolio of 43 industrial buildings totaling 18 million square feet between Allentown and Baltimore, according to its website. With the acquisition of the Gambone portfolio, the company has increased its footprint to nearly 90 properties. The company said it has the ability to develop another 14.8 million square feet of industrial space.

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Uh-Oh Oreos: Nabisco Cookie Plant in NJ, One of Just Three in U.S., Is Shutting Down

 

For six decades, residents of one New Jersey town have enjoyed the sweet smell of fresh baked cookies. But on Friday, that’s all about to end.

The Nabisco plant in Fair Lawn is closing, and worse than the delightful smell leaving their lives, the shuttering plant is also leaving hundreds of people out of a job. The massive site on Route 208 has been a part of the landscape for as long as some folks can remember.

There are currently only three like the plant left in the U.S., after having more than a dozen churning out Oreos and Chips Ahoy! cookies. Some have spent more than half their lives working at the facility.

Jimmy Figs started on the Fig Newton line 48 years ago, and pins the move on “corporate greed.”

“They have two or three plants down in Mexico, and that’s not good, that’s taking away a lot of our work. Don’t let them bullcrap you, the work’s going down there,” Figs said.

Understandably, he wasn’t the only one bitter about the decision.

“If you can pay people $3 or $4 an hour to do what we’re doing, why wouldn’t you?” said Cheryl Leahy.

While losing the familiar neighbor will be painful for the town, the land won’t sit dormant for long, said Fair Lawn’s mayor.

“We’ve already heard from developers who want that property. It’s 39.7 acres that we’re going to keep industrial, and heard from a number of developers who are interested in distribution centers,” Mayor Kurt Peluso said, adding that one has pitched adding a Wegman’s at the location, which was his favorite so far.

Whatever comes in will bring jobs along with it, and a number of area businesses have offered to help. But the workers say it will never be the same.

“Nothing lasts forever, you gotta make use of what we have, appreciate what we have, thank God and make the best of every day,” said Calvert Smith, who is set to retire after working at the plant for 30 years.

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Court Street Ventures Buys Erie Avenue Industrial Building, Will Raze a Portion for New Construction

A New Jersey investor has purchased 956 E. Erie Ave., a roughly 800,000-square-foot building on 19 acres in Northeast Philadelphia, with plans to tear down a portion of the existing structure and build 381,200 square feet of new warehouse space on speculation.

The goal is to seize on the continued demand for industrial space, particularly newly constructed, in Northeast Philadelphia and across the region.

Court Street Ventures bought the property, which takes up a city block, for an undisclosed price and the transaction had yet to be publicly recorded. The seller, Shift Capital, paid $3.47 million for the property in 2016.

Located across from the Philadelphia Coca-Cola bottling plant, the building was originally developed by what is now Crown Holdings and has been leased to various tenants over the years including Progress Lighting.

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Bimbo Bakeries USA Opens New Facility in Conshohocken to Distribute Entenmann’s, Other Brands

Bimbo Bakeries USA has completed a new 71,218 square-foot facility in Conshohocken that will serve as its main distribution center in the Mid-Atlantic for a dozen of the company’s brands such as Sara Lee and Arnold.

The building at 100 Academy Drive replaces its former distribution center at 1113 W. Ridge Pike, which was constructed in 1959 for Stroehmann. E. Kahn Development Co. bought that property last year for $6.85 million and plans to develop a distribution center for Amazon.

Bimbo declined to disclose the cost of the new project on Academy Drive. A total of 190 employees will work from the new building, which is owned by Bimbo. At one point, Tasty Baking Co. had owned the property, according to Montgomery County property records.

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

After Two Years, Northeast Philadelphia Building Leased to Amazon Sells for More Than Double

Less than two years after buying a 65,856-square-foot building in Northeast Philadelphia for $4.4 million, Abrams Realty Development has sold it for $9.75 million.

The value of the building at 13200 Townsend Road more than doubled, primarily as the result of a new tenant. Earlier this year, Amazon.com Inc. leased the entire structure for one of its last-mile distribution centers.

Abrams Realty bought the building on 7.3 acres in August 2019 from pharmaceutical firm Lannett Co. Inc. and had plans, through affiliate Farm Works Realty, to establish a state-of-the-art hydroponic facility to grow lettuce. When the pandemic hit, Abrams decided to pull back on those plans.

Abrams instead temporarily leased the building to McDaniel Trucking and Federal Express, and then leased it to Amazon this past February. The e-commerce retailer has ramped up leasing buildings for its last-mile distribution network as consumers began to rely more on online shopping during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, Northbridge, which focuses on buying last-mile distribution centers, paid $25.5 million to buy a four-building industrial portfolio in Northeast Philadelphia. Those buildings total 281,000 square feet and are located in the Byberry East and Byberry West part of the Philadelphia Industrial Park at 2722 Commerce Way, 2801-17 Southampton Road, 2825-45 Southampton Road, and 2191 Hornig Road.

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly Industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Brandywine Realty Trust Dips Toe into Industrial Real Estate with Latest Proposal

Brandywine Realty Trust is proposing to develop two industrial buildings off of Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia in a move that veers from its focus on developing and owning trophy office buildings.

The Philadelphia real estate investment trust wants to build a 338,208-square-foot structure and a companion 330,700-square-foot structure at 15000 Roosevelt Blvd. on 50 acres zoned as a Keystone Opportunity Zone, according to documents filed with Philadelphia. A KOZ provides breaks on certain state and local taxes for tenants who would move into the buildings.

Plans involve parking for 559 vehicles. The complex would be called the Byberry North Business Center.

*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal

For more information about Philly Industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Amazon Now Encircles the Philadelphia Region with Over 50 Warehouses

When Connor Lord first arrived at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in West Deptford Township, he was staggered by the sheer size of the place. After driving through the traffic light to the north of the warehouse, its massive bulk dwarfed everything else in this stretch of suburban South Jersey.

“It’s intimidating at first seeing this big building, it looked twice the size of the Linc,” said Lord, who worked as an apprentice carpenter at the Eagles stadium.

By square footage, none of Amazon’s facilities in the Philadelphia area can match Lincoln Financial Field. But the company has infrastructure under construction in the region that comes close to the stadium’s size, like a forthcoming mega-warehouse in New Castle, Del., or the new fulfillment center in Carneys Point, New Jersey, down the river from the West Deptford facility.

Both of these warehouses will be well more than a million square feet once completed and are among nine new Amazon facilities that the company has announced for the region in the next year, with more in the works. That’s in addition to 14 sites added in 2020 across the Lehigh Valley, South Jersey, northern Delaware, Philadelphia, and its collar counties.

According to the CoStar Group, Amazon now has 57 buildings online or underway, across this greater Philadelphia region. Real estate and industry analysts say they have never seen anything like the company’s explosive expansion.

“They’ve been gobbling up distribution space for more than five years in a big way, but the pandemic really accelerated that growth,” said Adrian Ponsen, director of analytics with CoStar Group in Philadelphia. “There’s no single company that’s anywhere near on the scale of what they’re doing.”

Amazon’s expansion in Philadelphia is part of a worldwide hiring spree sparked by the pandemic. The company added roughly 500,000 employees in 2020, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including 400,000 in the United States. Amazon hired nearly 175,000 people from October through December alone, far more than in any prior fourth quarter. The e-commerce giant employed 950,000 Americans as of last year, a company spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the company has grown its real estate footprint by 50% year-over-year in 2020, company executives told investors in February.Amazon now has more than 800 warehouses across the United States.

It’s not hard to see why the company is expanding. Amazon has done phenomenally well during 2020. Its already strong share price grew steadily throughout the early months of the pandemic, reaching its highest-ever level in September, as its fleets of trucks and legions of workers kept stay-at-home Americans well-supplied. In addition to delivering items, Amazon is the nation’s largest cloud computing company and has a leading video streaming service. Already the world’s wealthiest man, the company’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, saw his net worth grow by more than $60 billion in the last year, to $190 billion, Forbes estimated this month.

Amazon’s warehouse jobs start at $15 an hour, while the company’s coveted high-paying positions are massing in other locations on the Northeast corridor. The second headquarters is being opened near Washington and 7,000 highly paid white-collar Amazon jobs are now located in Boston. In New York City, the company purchased the former Lord & Taylor flagship on Fifth Avenue as a hub for tech workers.

In the Philadelphia region during the pandemic, Amazon began hiring for tens of thousands of jobs in its vast network of warehouses. The e-commerce giant posted more than 35,000 job openings in 2020, by far the most of any employer in the metropolitan area, according to the nonprofit University City District. The next closest was Lowe’s and Penn Medicine, which posted about 5,000 jobs each last year.

Amazon’s presence in the local labor market has grown exponentially. The 35,000 job postings were a roughly 1,600% increase from 2019. The University City District used data from Burning Glass Technologies, a Boston software firm that scrapes the internet for public job postings. Amazon does not make regional-wide breakdowns available but said that it now has 25,000 full- and part-time workers in Pennsylvania. Most of its infrastructure is concentrated in the southeast corner of the state.

*Article courtesy of The Inquirer

For more information about Philly Industrial space for sale or lease in Philadelphia and Philadelphia properties for sale or lease, please contact WCRE at 215-799-6900.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Philadelphia commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Philadelphia commercial real estate listings and services, property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail buildings and other Philadelphia commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers.

Please visit our websites for a full listing of Philadelphia commercial properties for lease or sale through our Philadelphia commercial real estate brokerage firm.