Macquarie Pays $392M for Amazon Warehouse

Amazon delivery station. Image courtesy of Amazon

Macquarie Asset Management Real Estate has completed the acquisition of LogistiCenter at I-95 Wilmington, a 3.8 million-square-foot industrial facility in Wilmington, Del. Dermody Properties sold the rail-served, Amazon-occupied property for $392 million, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The acquisition marks the largest purchase to date made on behalf of a U.S. account managed by the Australian real estate investment firm’s U.S. Core/Core-Plus Real Estate team. Based on multiple sources, the transaction also represents the highest sale price for a CRE deal in Delaware, while topping all single industrial asset sales in the U.S. in 2021.

New sales of Amazon-leased industrial complexes continue to set records. Recently, Mesirow Financial sold a 2.7 million-square-foot property occupied by the e-commerce company in Bondurant, Iowa, for more than $325 million, the highest recorded sale price in Polk County’s history.

Based on New Castle County records, in 2020 Amazon inked a 20-year lease at LogistiCenter at I-95 Wilmington. While the lease is set to expire in 2041, the tenant has multiple options to extend the lease period in five-year increments.

A closer look at LogistiCenter at I-95 Wilmington

The nearly 4 million-square-foot, single-tenant building features 69 dock high doors and ample parking, with a total of 1,940 spaces offering a ratio of 0.51 spaces per 1,000 square feet.

Last March, LogistiCenter at I-95 Wilmington was one of the leading industrial projects underway, third only to Tesla’s Giga Texas in Austin and Amazon’s Project Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colo., both encompassing 4 million square feet. Dermody Properties financed the construction of the distribution center with a $235.4 million loan originated by U.S. Bank, CommercialEdge data shows.

The developer completed the five-story facility at 801 Boxwood Road in September on a nearly 80-acre site that housed a General Motors assembly plant, which closed in 2009. Another developer breathing new life into a now defunct industrial complex in the Philadelphia market is Hilco Redevelopment Partners. Last month, the company secured a $500 million loan to redevelop the former PES oil refinery in South Philadelphia into a 15 million-square-foot mixed-use industrial park dubbed The Bellwether District.

The Wilmington facility is easily accessible, within a mile of Delaware Route 141 and some 2 miles away from Interstate 95. New Castle Airport is 5 miles south, while downtown Wilmington is roughly 5 miles northwest.