Arden, Arcapita JV Acquires DFW Infill Portfolio

Arden Logistics Parks, a rapidly expanding joint venture of Philadelphia-based Arden Group and Arcapita, an investment bank based in Bahrain, has acquired a 19-building industrial portfolio from Dallas-based MoxieBridge in a transaction sourced through JLL.

The industrial buildings, encompassing 764K SF and known as the DFW Infill Portfolio, are spread out in 14 locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. In a release, Arden said the portfolio currently is 96% leased to 29 tenants.

The properties in the DFW Infill Portfolio include a 112SF warehouse on Halifax St. in Dallas and a 134K SF warehouse in Mesquite. The acquisition increases ALP’s footprint in DFW to close to 2M SF.

“The DFW portfolio presented ALP with the ideal opportunity to continue accumulating mass in irreplaceable infill locations within top performing submarkets across the Dallas-Fort Worth market below replacement cost,” said Craig Spencer, chairman/CEO of Arden Group and ALP, in a statement.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but JLL referenced the discount to replacement cost in a marketing memo for the portfolio.

“Replacement costs for new light industrial product have increased dramatically over the last 24 months as construction costs have increased and developable land sites in DFW’s top infill submarkets are virtually nonexistent,” JLL’s memo said.

“In addition, there is limited supply of competing shallow bay product in the market. Both factors make the portfolio a meaningful discount to replacement cost with an irreplaceable position within the market,” JLL said.

Arden Group and Arcapita formed a joint venture in November, aiming to establish a $2B US industrial portfolio. The partners created ALP as a real estate operating platform and brand for the venture.

Arden Logistics Parks has acquired infill properties Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Columbus OH, Houston, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Philadelphia and Tampa, among other locations.

Earlier this month, ALP entered the Boston market with the acquisition of a 1.3M SF portfolio of eight industrial buildings in the Boston Metro South submarket. The seller and the purchase price were not disclosed.

Chris Vergilio, ALP’s director of acquisitions, said in a release that the Boston portfolio acquisition enables ALP to “achieve meaningful scale in a hyper-local market where large portfolio trades are rare.”

Similar to the DFW Infill Portfolio, the Boston acquisition included older buildings in six locations spread across the market. According to ALP, the properties in the Boston portfolio are 98% leased to 24 tenants.