WPT Industrial Closes on $142M in Logistics Deals

440 Interstate W. Parkway. Image courtesy of WPT Industrial

WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust has closed on $142.3 million of logistics acquisitions totaling nearly 2 million square feet across the U.S. South and Midwest, adding to a flurry of industrial portfolio deals this year as investors clamor for the asset class.

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The acquisitions by the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed REIT include a 505,000-square-foot distribution center nearby Nashville, Tenn., along with a 1.5 million-square-foot portfolio of four distribution facilities located near Atlanta, Memphis, Tenn., and Milwaukee. All the properties are 100 percent occupied, with a remaining weighted average lease term of 8.3 years, and the transactions have an average cap rate of 5.8 percent.

The deals follow WPT Industrial’s purchase of a $226 million infill logistics portfolio in the U.S. this past April. The newly closed transactions come on the heels of Nuveen Real Estate’s announcement this week that it would acquire a portfolio of more than 100 industrial assets valued at $3 billion from Blackstone.

Scattered properties

The Tennessee property acquired by WPT Industrial is located at 1740 J.P. Hennessey Drive in La Vergne, southeast of downtown Nashville. The REIT scooped up the Class A asset from a private investor for $33 million. Built in 1991, the facility originally served as a warehouse for Whirlpool.

Separately, WPT Industrial has closed on a four-asset portfolio that includes two neighboring assets at 5201 and 5235 International Drive in Cudahy, Wis., outside Milwaukee. The properties measure 153,300 square feet and 147,213 square feet, respectively, and each was purchased for $12.9 million.

The portfolio also includes 440 Interstate W. Parkway in Austell, Ga., outside Atlanta, a 780,575-square-foot facility that was purchased for $57.1 million, and 7437 Polk Lane in Olive Branch, Miss., across the state border from Memphis, Tenn. The 411,600-square-foot asset changed hands for $26.4 million.

The REIT, which has a portfolio of approximately 75 industrial properties and one office asset in the U.S., also announced that a syndicate of underwriters led by Desjardins Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets has agreed to purchase $85 million worth of units in the trust. The proceeds will be used to help fund the closing of the acquisitions and for future value-add and development investments.

A flurry of portfolio deals

The U.S. industrial and logistics market remains healthy, with leasing activity bolstered not only by the continued growth of e-commerce but also by food and beverage and home improvement companies, according to a second-quarter market report by CBRE. The asset class recorded a historically low vacancy rate of 4.3 percent.

Investors have bagged a series of major portfolio deals over the course of the year. WPT Industrial in April closed on the acquisition of a bundle of 13 industrial buildings and three land parcels across the country for $226 million. The properties totaled 2.2 million square feet of gross leasable area across California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Blackstone dominated headlines in June by nearly doubling its U.S. industrial footprint in a record-setting $18.7 billion deal with Global Logistic Properties. And last month, real estate investment trust Broadstone Net Lease picked up a portfolio of 23 fully leased warehouse, distribution, manufacturing, cold storage and flex facilities totaling 6.9 million rentable square feet for about $735.7 million.