Childress Klein, Altus Land Loan for 1.4 MSF Project

Rendering of Camp Hall. Image courtesy of Altus Equity Group

A joint venture between Childress Klein and Altus Equity Group secured debt and equity for the development of a 1.4 million-square-foot speculative industrial project in Ridgeville, S.C., some 40 miles northwest of Charleston. New York Life Real Estate Investors arranged the financing for the $86.5 million construction loan. JLL Capital Markets is appointed as leasing broker.

The partnership broke ground in June 2022 after the land purchase in a transaction facilitated by Cushman & Wakefield. Partner at Childress Klein Matt Harper said in prepared remarks that the project is slated for completion in the second half of 2023.

The Camp Hall Commerce Park Campus 8 represents the next phase of the larger Camp Hall mixed-use commerce park. Another facility currently under development within the same industrial park is Campus 5, a 545,000-square-foot building, scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2024.

Campus 8 will include three facilities of various sizes, spread across 107 acres. Building 1 will be the largest, at 971,302 square feet with 40-foot clear height, while Building 2 and 3 will encompass 275,271 square feet and 183,757 square feet, respectively, and will feature 32- and 36-foot clear heights.

The project is located between the Volvo Car Drive Interchange and Interstate 26, with frontage to Autonomous Drive and will have access to the proposed Camp Hall Boulevard. Port of Charleston is 34 miles away. Charleston International Airport is 26.6 miles southeast of the campus. Volvo Car USA is situated within the industrial park.

Charleston in demand for speculative development

As of February, Charleston has 95 industrial projects in various stages of development, set to add approximately 28.4 million square feet to the existing inventory, CommercialEdge data shows. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the Charleston market had a decrease of 70 basis points in vacancy, the lowest on record and high performance in 2021 and 2022 is bound to continue driving speculative development, according to a JLL report.

Another large industrial project in Charleston is Palmetto Logistics Center, a more than 1.3 million-square-foot development. Dalfen Industrial plans to deliver the facility in the third quarter of 2023.