GRAND RAPIDS, MI—The US auto industry has been on an upswing for the past few years, and its suppliers across the Midwest have responded by expanding operations. This has not gone unnoticed by major investment groups, which have started to see these facilities as attractive acquisitions.
The Praedium Group, a New York City-based investment firm, for example, in partnership with Sagic Capital and Park Bridge Financial, just plunked down $20 million for a class A industrial building in Grand Rapids, MI. Undercar Products Group, Inc., a subsidiary of the Canada-based ABC Group, completely occupies the 434,039-square-foot facility at 4247 Eastern Ave. with a net lease that runs through 2025.
“We were thrilled to acquire this'state of the art' industrial building that is in a prime location,” says Mason Sleeper, principal of the Praedium Group, in a prepared statement. He was not available for comment by press time. “4247 Eastern Ave. is at the center of an industrial corridor boasting 115-million-square-feet of quality space with a vacancy rate of just 6.7%.”
The burst in demand from the major auto companies has already transformed this facility. In 2013, Undercar, a plastics firm that supplies GM and Ford, received tax abatements to help it add an 115,000-square-foot building featuring 33-foot ceiling heights. Even before that, in 2011, it was completely refurbished, receiving updated HVAC and mechanical systems and a new roof system. The asset occupies 18 acres just off US 131 - the area's main north/south thoroughfare - and also sits in close proximity to I-96, which connects Grand Rapids to Lansing and Detroit.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
