W.P. Carey Completes Recent Investments of $170M

NEW YORK – W.P. Carey Inc. has recently completed four investments totaling $170 million. The investments span 11 million square feet and consist of operationally-critical properties that are net-leased to tenants with a weighted-average lease term of 16 years.

The four investments bring W.P. Carey’s year-to-date investment volume to $765 million, with a weighted-average lease term of 22 years.

The first of the four investments includes the $65 million sale-leaseback of a 316,300-square-foot, state-of-the-art food production facility. The facility is triple-net-leased for 25 years with fixed annual rent escalations to a leading shelf-stable, dairy-based food and beverage product supplier. The technologically advanced, mission-critical facility is located in the Midwest. The tenant company has made substantial investments to the building; more than tripling its capacity within the ready-to-drink beverage market and achieving consistent revenue growth in recent years.

The second investment encompasses the $52 million acquisition of a 203,800-square-foot flex R&D and manufacturing facility. The facility is triple-net-leased with fixed annual rent increases and a remaining term of 6.7 years, with Velodyne Lidar, a provider of sensor technologies for autonomous vehicles, driver assistance, delivery solutions, robotics and navigation. Located near Highway 101 and Highway 85 in the south San Jose industrial submarket, the asset features a large manufacturing floor and heavy power hook-ups critical for advanced manufacturing. The facility serves as the tenant company’s headquarters, and it additionally houses all of the company’s R&D, quality control and engineering functions.

W.P. Carey’s third investment comprises the $27 million off-market acquisition of 567,000-square-foot, class A, light manufacturing facility located in the largest industrial submarket of Columbus, OH. The facility is triple-net-leased for 15 years with fixed annual rent escalations to a US wholly-owned subsidiary of Knowlton Development Corporation Inc., a global provider specializing in custom formulation, package design and manufacturing solutions for beauty, personal care and home-care brands. The facility is fungible, cross-docked industrial building with 30-foot clear heights.

The final investment encompasses the $26 million acquisition of a 94-unit student housing asset in New Rochelle, NY. The residence hall, which was completed in 2018, spans 49,500 net rentable square feet and is net-leased to Monroe College. The property is net-leased for a remaining term of 12.3 years with inflation-based rent increases.

“The food and beverage industry continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience and consistent growth,” says Andrés Dallal, executive director of investments at W. P. Carey. “We are increasingly seeing companies within this industry use sale-leasebacks as a capital allocation tool to unlock the value of their real estate and redeploy those proceeds into growth initiatives, M&A and other corporate objectives. We are thrilled to expand our footprint in the food and beverage space with another state-of-the-art facility that will provide vital production capacity in a rapidly growing market.”