Clarion Snaps Up $85.5 Million Baltimore Industrial Complex
Clarion Partners has acquired a 301,000-square-foot industrial property in southeast Baltimore for $85.5 million. The facility, located at 1201 S. Caton Ave., was purchased from developer MRP Industrial, as first reported by The Business Journals. The deal was made on behalf of an undisclosed client.
Known as the City Logistics site, the two-building complex was completed in 2023 on land that previously housed the Seton Keough School, which closed in 2017. MRP picked up the site from the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2021 for $18 million.
PepsiCo anchors the property with a 113,000-square-foot, purpose-built space, while Carlisle Architectural Metals occupies another 109,000 square feet. About 80,000 square feet remains available, per MRP’s data — putting the current lease-up rate at roughly 74%.
The sale price equates to just over $284 per square foot. Clarion declined to comment on the acquisition, and MRP did not immediately respond to inquiries.
The sale adds to a recent wave of activity between the two firms. In February, Clarion and MRP partnered to acquire 63 acres near the Guinness Open Gate Brewery from Diageo for approximately $36 million in a sale-leaseback deal.
Baltimore Leads South Industrial Market Region in Sales Price per Square Foot
Through February, Baltimore is the only major Southern market where industrial assets have traded above the national average with deals averaging $132 per square foot, as compared to $127 nationally. That said, just $34 million in transactions have been recorded citywide, which points to a slow start in overall volume.
Vacancy is also running higher than average. At 8.9%, Baltimore ranks third among major Southern metros, compared to the U.S. rate of 8.2%.
Still, the industrial sector has proven resilient. One year after the Dali ship collision destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge and disrupted port activity, the Port of Baltimore posted its second-best year on record by moving nearly 46 million tons of cargo in 2024, according to the 2025 Ports Report. That includes nearly three months of reduced volume after the incident. However, land-side traffic won’t return to normal until the completion of a multi-year rebuild of the Key Bridge.