VOL. 126 | NO. 245 | Friday, December 16, 2011
Inked
Sarah Baker
Tubing Maker Doubles Space in Willow Lake
By Sarah Baker
A Memphis-based tubing supplier is renewing its lease and more than doubling its space in a distressed Hickory Hill industrial park.
Jacob Tubing LP – the U.S. subsidiary of European modular tubing manufacturer Jacob Soehne – has renewed its 10-year lease for 20,232 square feet and expanded into an additional 30,000 square feet at Willow Lake Business Park, 3948 Willow Lake Blvd., in the Southeast industrial submarket.
Chris Cook with Colliers International’s brokerage services represented Jacob Tubing. He said from a business model standpoint, Jacob Tubing has decided to move in the direction of bringing manufacturing into the market.
“They’ll still have the distribution and warehousing side of the operation, which they have always had, and they’re expanding that as well,” Cook said. “But they’re also bringing in some extra equipment to begin their manufacturing process of some of their metal tubing, which is part of the reason why they had to expand into more than half the space.”
Tim Mashburn of Colliers International’s Management Services Office represented the landlord, Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate. It was one of Colliers’ final deals for Willow Lake property. Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors Asset Services LLC took over leasing and management assignments of Willow Lake about a month ago.
The entire office and industrial park measures more than 1 million square feet across 11 buildings. Commercial Advisors oversees nine of those 11 buildings, said executive vice president Mark Jenkins. The other two are owned by HSA and San Francisco-based ProLogis Inc.
“It’s a big, big park,” Jenkins said, adding that the entire complex is about 60 percent leased. “International Paper used to have a big presence here. They’ve vacated a lot of that space.”
In October, the lender behind a mortgage secured by Willow Lake bought the park at a foreclosure auction for $26 million. A single-purpose entity named 198-6 Memphis Industrial Portfolio Holdings LLC, which is related to special servicer CWCapital, paid just less than half of the $53 million HSA Commercial paid when it purchased the portfolio five years ago.
The foreclosure was pursued because HSA defaulted on a $67 million loan through Countrywide Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc., taken out in December 2006. That loan was later assigned to LaSalle Bank NA and then to U.S. Bank.
• In other deals, Woodyard Realty Corp. has brokered the sale of the Biltmore and McAlpin apartments, 1812-1820 Madison Ave. in Midtown.
William and Carol Mathis purchased the complexes from Bank of Internet Federal Bank for $395,500, according to the Shelby County Register of Deeds, which uses an 1812 Madison Ave. address.
The seller was represented by Woodyard president Steve Woodyard. Woodyard Realty’s multifamily investment specialist Lea Heilig represented the local buyers. Built in 1924, the 24-unit property is 79 percent occupied, according to Woodyard’s website, which also describes the two complexes as in need of renovation.
In addition to the purchase, the Mathises filed an $880,000 construction loan through Magna Bank.
The sale of the Biltmore and McAlpin apartments are the latest evidence that apartment sales are heating up, according to a Woodyard Realty statement.
Stock market investors are leaving the market for more stable returns and consumers are facing uncertainty with their jobs and are watching home prices to see if prices have hit bottom yet, Woodyard said in the statement.
Traditional homebuyers are renting because they think they cannot qualify to buy homes right now, according to the statement.
• In other acquisitions, Robert and Gayle Winchel have purchased the 2,680-square-foot flex warehouse building at 1725 Nail Road in Horn Lake, Miss., from First Tennessee Bank for $115,000.
Steve Brice with Bob Leigh & Associates LLC’s commercial division was the buyer’s rep. Preston Thomas and Andrew Phillips with Colliers International represented First Tennessee.