GREENSBORO, NC-CIP Real Estate and Blue Vista Capital Management acquired the
Airport Distribution Center from Highwoods Properties for $12.3 million. Formerly known as the Chimney Rock Portfolio, the six-building complex includes about 836,500 square feet of warehouse and logistics space.
“We are focused on the Airport submarket—that’s the newest and most technical submarket,” Jared Rogers, regional director at Irvine, Calif.-based CIP Real Estate, tells GlobeSt.com. “We are less enthralled with the other submarkets. The further away we get from the airport, the less desirable the property.”
The Airport Distribution Center is located adjacent to the Piedmont Triad International Airport and major interstate highway systems. The submarket is home to new FedEx air and ground hubs, as well as a recently-completed Honda Jet facility. Current tenants include third-party logistics firm APL Logistics, fashion retailer Polo Ralph Lauren, and Carroll Tire Company.
“Fifteen dollars a square foot in the Airport submarket is tough to beat, so this is an attractive buy,” Rogers says. “We have an strong basis compared to most owners in the submarket. We bought the park at 60 percent occupancy, and we’re prepared to spend money on the two available buildings to make them more competitive.”
The Airport Distribution Center will complete in the Greensboro-Highpoint-Winston-Salem industrial market that includes the Rock Creek Center. A 1,400-acre mixed-use development seven miles east of Greensboro, the Rock Creek Center is the largest industrial park in the Piedmont Triad.
Richard Beard, a principal at Simpson Schulman & Beard, the firm that owns and manages Rock Creek Center, tells GlobeSt.com that CIP and Blue Vista Capital Management got a “good price” on the Airport Distribution Center. With Caterpillar building a manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, he says the park is positioned to pick up some supplier leases.
“We have some vacancies out there, but as soon as the economy turns our industrial space is going to get eaten up quickly,” Beard says. “I think the market has hit bottom. There is some pent up demand out there but companies are scared to pull the trigger because nobody knows what’s going to happen in the future. These investors are saw an opportunity to pick up a bargain with the Airport Distribution Center and are positioning it for the turnaround.”
CIP Real Estate is expanding its presence in North Carolina. The firm currently owns and operates nearly one million square feet of business parks there, including the Charlotte Commerce Center, Hickory Grove Business Park and Coffey Creek Business Center in Charlotte, and the Lake Norman Commerce Center in Cornelius.
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