North Signal—Westport JV Plans Industrial Development in SC

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Peter Goulding, partner, North Signal Capital

A joint venture between North Signal Capital and Westport Capital Partners has acquired two industrial sites at North Pointe Commerce Park from WestRock. The JV plans to turn the Charleston, S.C., space into a 250,000-square-foot Class A building.

“The Industrial market in Charleston has averaged single digit vacancy over the last 10 years,” Peter Goulding, North Signal Capital LLC’s partner, told Commercial Property Executive. “Charleston continues to experience outsized economic growth which has created an unprecedented demand for quality industrial product. The lack of entitled industrial land and available buildings makes this the ideal time to develop speculative industrial product.”

Additionally, the joint venture will develop roughly 130,000 square feet of industrial space on the sites, collectively known as “North Pointe Commerce Park.”

Stage 1 is expected to start this month, with the ground breaking of the approximately 250,000-square-foot speculative building. Site 2, which is planned as a build-to-suit, will also offer flexibility in size and configuration, a major selling point with the market’s current low vacancies and high demand.

Everything Mapped Out

According to Goulding, the investment fits perfectly with the company philosophy: “North Signal targets in-fill properties with a ‘build to core’ mindset, supported by long-term secular trends including the growth of e-commerce and population growth within the Southeastern U.S.,” he said. “Our JV partner, an affiliate of Westport Capital Partners LLC, has similarly focused on these elements of growth. We were both focused on Charleston, and this was the ideal project on which to partner.”

The sites are strategically located in close proximity to the port, airport, interstate highways and the U.S. naval installation known as SPAWAR. They are also within a Class A Industrial park on North Pointe Industrial Blvd., which was originally developed by WestRock. The park contains corporate tenants such as SAIC, XPO Logistics and FedEx.

The properties will appeal to a diverse set of industries, including aerospace and defense, automotive, information technology, life sciences and logistics.

“At a property level, these sites address the most active tenant demand,” Goulding said. “Site 1 will be a roughly 250,000-square-foot building designed for maximum flexibility allowing for multi-tenanting with tenant spaces of 50,000 square feet or greater. Site 2 offers a truly unique opportunity for a tenant to customize its own approximately 130,000-square-foot building.”

Colliers International will serve as the owner’s leasing representative.

The South Carolina industrial market is growing, with many companies expanding in the state. Recently, BMW and Mercedes supplier IFA invested in a new manufacturing and distribution facility in Summerville, S.C.