(To read more on the industrial market, click here.)
LITTLETON, MA-There is nothing tiny about the Littleton Distribution Center. The sprawling complex has 240,000 sf of existing industrial space and a like amount that will be under construction in the next few weeks, plus the ability to develop another 360,000 sf in the future. Now, owner GFI Partners Inc. of Boston is hoping to garner a big price for the asset, having retained CB Richard Ellis to gauge investor interest.
"We decided maybe we should bring it out and see what others think," GFI president Steven Goodman tells GlobeSt.com. The marketing campaign, he explains, was prompted by unsolicited inquires from deal-starved buyers. An asking price has not been established, he says, but some sources maintain the lack of modern industrial space will steel investors to pursue the hulking property.
The existing space at Littleton Distribution Center is about 50% leased and Goodman says there has been encouraging activity among prospects for the remaining square footage. CBRE principal Gary Lemire, who will be part of the sales effort, notes that the Littleton submarket has a limited supply of industrial and warehouse space, especially the modern sort which offers tenants both fire and safety systems and an efficient layout with high ceilings and ubiquitous loading areas.
"It's one of the few sites in Massachusetts that can handle a large tenant over 500,000 sf," notes Lemire, who is marketing the property with CBRE colleagues Robert Gibson and Chris Angelone. The trio works out of CBRE's Boston investment group, while Gibson also handles leasing duties for the building.
Efforts to garner a likely sales price from the involved parties were unsuccessful, but observers familiar with the market and the building say a transaction could approach $25 million. Other new industrial buildings have seen strong results, including the disposition of 55 Lyman St. in Northborough to Invesco Real Estate in 2005 and the sale a year ago of the Methuen Industrial Center in Methuen for $18.3 million, or nearly $80 per sf. Joining colleagues David Connolly and Phil Giunta, Lemire brokered the latter deal to AEW Capital Management on behalf of the seller, Tambone Corp.
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