VOL. 127 | NO. 117 | Friday, June 15, 2012
Inked
Sarah Baker
Exeter Closes On Acquisition Of ProLogis Properties
By Sarah Baker
Pennsylvania-based Exeter Property Group has closed on its acquisition of 10 Memphis-area industrial buildings for $40 million from San Francisco-based ProLogis Inc.
The facilities, a mix of Class A and Class B, total approximately 2 million square feet. The buildings are: Centerpointe No. 1 (400,000 square feet at 3461 E. Raines Road), Olive Branch Distribution Center No. 1 (800,000 square feet at 10425 Ridge Wood Road), Southpark Building No. 1 (220,100 square feet at 4550 Quality Drive), Airport Distribution Center (ADC) No. 1 (36,934 square feet at 4841 Cromwell Ave.), ADC No. 5 (200,000 square feet at 4289 Concorde Road), ADC No. 6 (35,460 square feet at 3846 Delp St.), ADC No. 10 (142,618 square feet at 4403-4467 Delp), ADC No. 14 (121,689 square feet at 4006-5000 Air Park Street), ADC No. 20 (62,290 square feet at 4130-4180 New Getwell Road), and ADC No. 21 (21,000 square feet at 4128 New Getwell Road).
Exeter is a real estate private equity firm that acquires, develops and manages industrial and related business park properties in major markets throughout the U.S. The company owns 30 million square feet of property in more than 20 cities.
Prior to the sale, Exeter owned one property in Memphis as part of its Mid-South portfolio, Southpoint Distribution Park – an 816,400-square-foot big-box warehouse south of Downtown Memphis that it bought in December 2010.
Kevin Shea, principal/investment officer for Exeter’s Mid-South portfolio in the company’s Louisville, Ky., office, said Exeter is a growing industrial firm and Memphis is “one of the markets that we like.”
“There was a variety of different attributes in this portfolio that we thought made it a compelling acquisition for us,” Shea said. “There were some long-term leases in place with credit tenants like Sears, as well as some buildings with some vacancy, and so we got it at a good price. We believe in the future of the industrial market in Memphis and its growth, so we thought it was the right time to buy.”
The deal was part of a larger $80 million portfolio sale of wholly owned properties in seven separate transactions from ProLogis. The other $40 million in acquisitions are across 700,000 square feet of buildings in Tolleson, Ariz.; Queens, N.Y.; Itasca, Ill.; Orange, Calif.; and Dallas.
The seller was represented by Jack Fraker, vice chairman/managing director of CB Richard Ellis’ Dallas office, along with Frank Fallon, vice chairman of CBRE’s Atlanta office. Exeter represented itself.
“The disposition of these assets is reflective of the strong demand for high-quality industrial real estate and is in keeping with our stated goal of realigning our portfolio,” Thomas S. Olinger, chief financial officer of Prologis said in a statement. “We continue to focus on properties in what we consider to be core markets and while these were all excellent facilities, they were located in non-core submarkets.”
• In other commercial leasing news, CEVA Logistics U.S. Inc. has renewed its 648,750-square-foot lease at 5166 Pleasant Hill Road in Southeast Memphis – where the company took over the account from another third-party logistics firm to occupy the entire warehouse in 2009.
CBRE Memphis’ senior associate Bobby Daush represented the tenant. Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors Asset Services LLC executive vice president Mark Jenkins represented the landlord, DCT Shelby 19 LP – an affiliate of Denver-based industrial real estate investment trust DCT Industrial.
“It’s got great interstate and highway access and is also very close to the airport as well,” Daush said. “That’s how they move their product and it’s a good solution for their customer.”
CEVA was formed in August 2007 as a result of the merger of TNT Logistics and EGL Eagle Global Logistics. The company is based in the Netherlands and has a location in Jacksonville, Fla., that serves as its U.S. headquarters.
CEVA entered the Memphis market in 2008, when it leased a 60,000-square-foot facility at 4800 Pleasant Hill Road. The space, just down the road from the CEVA’s “mother ship” facility, is still occupied by CEVA, Daush said.