APCA Fund Secures Nearly $8M Industrial Deal

BOSTON-Continuing its campaign to assemble an industrial-focused portfolio that will eventually be offered to institutional investors, the Boston-based APCA Property Fund I has closed on a cold storage warehouse in Philadelphia, paying $7.7 million for 3435-3535 Front St. The 85,000-sf facility is fully leased to Brooks Provisions, a major food distribution company in the mid-Atlantic region.

“We’re very happy to buy this property,” relays Paradigm Capital Advisors principal Steve Allison, whose Boston firm has teamed up with the Ashforth Co. to form the APCA Property Fund I. The building has “a fantastic location” off Interstate 95 near the Walt Whitman Bridge in the 500-acre Philadelphia Food Distribution Center, relays Allison. The full-building lease still has several years of term remaining that will provide welcomed cash flow until the disposition strategy is realized, Allison explains, citing that as another reason APCA was “aggressive” in pursuing the competitively bid asset. The building was traded via a marketing process handled by Steve Marzullo of CB Richard Ellis.

APCA’s ardor for 3435-3535 Front St. was enhanced by a determination that the lease is below market and should offer upside once it rolls, and was also spurred by the firm’s belief in the Greater Philadelphia industrial sector, reports Allison. The company last year acquired a three-building, 420,000-sf portfolio in the market and has already managed to fill the vacant portion of the properties, whose purchase was reported by GlobeSt.com. “Hopefully, we will be buying some more down there,” says Allison.