LPC Enters Las Vegas Market

Lincoln Property Co. has entered the Nevada market with its latest acquisition of the Hughes Airport Center, a 426,000-square-foot, six building industrial complex in the Las Vegas airport submarket. Lincoln Property Co. has been strategically expanding in the desert west region of the US, which includes Arizona, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico.

Lincoln Property entered contract on the asset before the onset of the pandemic, but decided to go through with the deal despite the sudden economic dislocation. “We had a lot of conversations about it, but industrial is one of the shining stars during the pandemic that is doing well,” David Krumwiede, EVP of Lincoln Property Co., tells GlobeSt.com. “The market is highly competitive, and we decided that we could work through any issues. Hopefully, this is a relatively short downturn, and we can battle our way through it.”

The property fundamentals also made it attractive, even considering troubled waters ahead. The property is 98% leased and has a long history of strong occupancy. It is a core asset in a really strong submarket near the airport. “It had the entire mix and it had rent role diversity,” says Krumwiede. “We felt good about it. We are a long-term investor over a number of different cycles. This is a 10-plus year hold, so it made sense to us.”

Overall, the firm also sees a strong future in the Las Vegas industrial market, which is proximate to California but at a significant discount. “There are a lot of companies that want to service California, but either don’t want a location in California or that want to move out of California. We think Las Vegas is going to be a beneficiary of that in the long run,” says Krumwiede, adding that Las Vegas also has the labor pool to attract ecommerce companies. “We are seeing ecommerce go to markets that have good labor markets, and that is often what is driving ecommerce locations,” he adds.

Lincoln Desert West continues to be an active buyer in this market, and is continuing to look for deals in Las Vegas and throughout the desert west region. “We are actively looking. There is not a lot of product on the market, but we are trying to find opportunities to acquire and/or build in Las Vegas, but from an investment sales perspective there just aren’t a lot of opportunities,” says Krumwiede.

However, deals have dried up since the onset of the pandemic, leaving little opportunity to buy. “Industrial has been an investment favorite, and there isn’t a ton of it from a dollar volume perspective. There is a lot of demand, so we haven’t seen any big discounts,” says Krumwiede.