Crow Holdings JV Kickstarts Logistics Project

Millstone 8 Logistics Center. Image courtesy of Crow Holdings Industrial

Construction has begun on Millstone 8 Logistics Center, a Class A, two-building, 1.2 million square-foot logistics property in Millstone, N.J.

A partnership of Crow Holdings Industrial, The Carlyle Group and 2020 Acquisitions is developing the project. The state-of-the art development is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2022.

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The development group, led by CHI, acquired the 140-acre parcel in May. The team obtained purchase rights from Seth Gerszberg of Active Acquisitions, the initial developer of the project. Millstone 8 Logistics Center will be located at 505 Route 33 near the Exit 8 interchange on the New Jersey Turnpike. The location provides efficient access to the metropolitan New York/Tri-State region, greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.

Leasing, which began in the second quarter, is being handled by Rob Kossar, Joel Lubin, Nate Demetsky and Leslie Lanne of JLL’s East Rutherford, N.J., office.

The largest of the buildings will be a 1 million-square-foot facility featuring a 40-foot clear height, 274 dedicated trailer parking stalls and 172 loading doors. The 220,000-square-foot building will have a 36-foot clear height, 37 dedicated trailer parking stalls and 50 loading doors in a cross-dock configuration.

Clark Machemer, senior managing director at CHI, said in a prepared statement Millstone 8 Logistics Center will meet a rapidly accelerating demand for modern logistics facilities in the Northeast and provide one of the few options for tenants seeking a million-square-foot building. Machemer said recent improvements made to the Exit 8 interchange along with widening of the New Jersey Turnpike have made access to the property extremely efficient for industrial operations.

Efrem Gerszberg, founder & CEO of 2020 Acquisitions, a national real estate development firm with projects including Class A warehousing, said in prepared remarks New Jersey is one of the strongest industrial markets in the country and developable land near the Turnpike has become increasingly hard to find. He noted the growth in e-commerce has created more demand for distribution facilities that have entitlements.

Michael Gershenson, managing director of global investment firm The Carlyle Group, stated they continue to see strong industry tailwinds for the logistics sector and expect the development will provide significant value creation potential.

Previous New Jersey Deal

The new development announcement comes about a year after CHI sold 50 Veronica Ave., a newly built 925,000-square-foot property in Franklin Township, N.J., for $164 million to BentallGreenOak on behalf of an institutional investor. The acquisition of the fully leased property was one of the largest single-asset industrial trades during the COVID-19 pandemic. LG Electronics USA had signed a seven-year lease in December 2019 to occupy the entire industrial building when it was completed in 2020. CHI had acquired the 99-acre property in the first quarter of 2019 from 2020 Acquisitions with The Carlyle Group as its partner.

The 50 Veronica project marked CHI’s development debut in the Northeast market. Over the past three years, the company, part of privately owned real estate investment and development firm Crow Holdings, has amassed a development pipeline of 8 million square feet of industrial projects in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. CHI has built more than 30 million square feet of distribution, fulfillment and last-mile properties in key logistics markets since 2013.