Blackstone Snaps Up Industrial Portfolio for $359M

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Lakeside Business Park in Edgewood, Md.,

FRP Holdings Inc. has agreed to sell 41 industrial properties and two adjacent parcels in the Mid-Atlantic region to an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII LP for a total purchase price of $358.9 million, FRP announced. The sale is expected to close in the second or third quarter.

“The reduction in corporate income tax rates in a low cap rate environment created too good an opportunity to forgo,” John Baker II, FRP’s executive chairman & CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to redeploying these proceeds in our other business segments including Anacostia, Land Development, and Mining/Royalties segments where more recently we have enjoyed more favorable returns.”

Portfolio details

More than three-quarters of the assets are in Maryland, with the rest in Virginia and Delaware, according to an SEC Form 8-K filed by FRP.

The Maryland properties include:

• Transit Business Park, a five-building, 232,300-square-foot park in Baltimore;
• Lakeside Business Park in Edgewood, Md., consists of nine warehouse/flex buildings on 64 acres of a site that totals 84 developable acres. Total developed space is 893,700 square feet;
• Kelso Business Park, in Baltimore, two buildings totaling 69,700 square feet, completed in 1999;
• Gilroy Center in Hunt Valley, a single building of 107,400 square feet on 7 acres. The building was completed in 1967, but underwent a full exterior renovation in 2016;
• Four warehouse/office buildings in the 49-acre Hillside Business Park, in Hanover, Md.;
• The single-building Dorsey Run Business Center, in Jessup, Md., with 85,100 square feet on nearly 6 acres.

Eastdil Secured LLC was FRP’s exclusive broker in connection with the sale, and Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. served as FRP’s financial advisor. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP was FRP’s legal counsel, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as counsel to Blackstone on the transaction.

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