Brennan Investment Group Buys 380 KSF Industrial Portfolio

May 13, 2020

The company continues its national expansion with the acquisition of a collection of three fully leased facilities in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

100 Cascade Drive, Allentown, Pa. Image via Google Street View

Brennan Investment Group has increased its holdings by 380,300 square feet with the addition of a three-building industrial portfolio in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. The real estate investment firm did not disclose the specifics of the transaction; however, according to Lehigh County land records, Brennan acquired three industrial buildings in Allentown, Pa., from DREP Magellan Lehigh Valley LLC at the end of April.

Developed between 1971 and 1975, the three facilities carry the addresses of 100, 202 and 212 Cascade Drive and sit just across from the Lehigh Valley International Airport within the prominent I-78/I-81 Industrial Corridor. The portfolio is 100 percent leased to five tenants, including tech firm DriveLocker, Fragrance Manufacturing Inc. and Inhance Technologies.

The Lehigh Valley’s I-78/I-81 Industrial Corridor submarket is an investor favorite in Pennsylvania. Capital markets activity in the Corridor surpassed $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020, according to a report by CBRE. Ahead of the COVID-19 outbreak, sales volume was up 60.8 percent from the same period in the first quarter of 2019. “Institutional investors remain attracted to the asset class as cap rates remain at historic lows and rental growth continues,” according to the report. Brennan is not divulging the acquisition cost of the portfolio, but the company did reveal that it purchased the collection of industrial facilities below replacement cost.

Growth spurt

With the closing of the Lehigh Valley acquisition, Brennan’s Northeast portfolio now totals nearly 5 million square feet across 14 submarkets. However, the company is not limiting its expansion to any one region. Brennan’s transactions year-to-date include the acquisition of a 265,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution building in metropolitan Chicago in a sale-leaseback transaction in April. In February, the firm added a 98,600-square-foot, fully leased industrial facility in Milwaukee to its holdings.

Brennan has also been active on the development front. The company recently completed the development of a 411,000-square-foot distribution facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on behalf of lighting equipment manufacturer City Electric Supply/Tamco, which will also use 40,000 square feet of the new property to serve as City Electric’s North American headquarters. Brennan is planning roughly $1 billion in overall investment activity in 2020.