Endurance JV Acquires PA Industrial Portfolio

Aerial view of Penn Warner Industrial Park

A partnership between an affiliate of Endurance Real Estate Group LLC and Thackeray Partners has acquired Penn Warner Industrial Park, a four-building warehouse/distribution portfolio in Fairless Hills, Penn., from an undisclosed institutional seller. The CBRE-arranged deal’s price was not disclosed. 

“The Suburban Philadelphia infill industrial markets are very well occupied with few vacancies,” Benjamin Sternberg, Endurance’s acquisitions and asset management analyst, told Commercial Property Executive. “We believe in the continued growth of last mile e-commerce distribution as well as the traditional light industrial users that would occupy this portfolio.”

The properties in the portfolio combine for a total of 240,358 square feet, and the buildings were built between 1968 and 1970. All four buildings boast brick and block facades, 24-25.5-feet clear ceiling heights, and an excellent dock door ratio of one door per 6,000 square feet.

“Industrial vacancy, both for this market as well as regionally, is at an all-time low,” Sternberg said. “There is pent-up demand for functional industrial buildings in infill areas, and with the good access to strong demographics that these buildings provide, they were an obvious investment.”

Existing users within the area include Rite-Aid, Estee Lauder, Pitney Bowes, XPO Logistics, Tara Tape, and Future Foam. Current vacancies range from 20,012 square feet up to a full building availability of 60,223 square feet. “This portfolio, at 63 percent occupied in a strengthening leasing market, is a perfect candidate for this strategy,” Sternberg pointed out. 

Strong location hub

The portfolio is situated near the intersections of Route 1 and Route 13, offering easy access to interstates 95 195 and 295, the NJ Turnpike and providing connections to New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas and the affluent consumer base of the northeastern corridor.

According to Sternberg, Penn Warner Industrial Park, along with its surrounding buildings and submarket, enjoyed excellent occupancy before the recession. With the stronger industrial fundamentals nationally and regionally, Bucks County is receiving renewed interest as a strong location in between Philadelphia and Central New Jersey. Endurance previously owned the portfolio from 2003 to 2007.

“Given the strength of the Lower Bucks distribution market as well as Endurance’s hands-on management platform and local ownership presence, this opportunity was a natural fit given our recent value-add acquisition of buildings in the King of Prussia and Mount Laurel, New Jersey markets,” Albert Corr, senior vice president of Endurance, said in prepared remarks.

The CBRE Northeast National Partners’ team of Michael Hines, Brian Fiumara, Brad Ruppel, and Lauren Dawicki brokered the deal. Cushman & Wakefield’s Jonas Skovdal and Jeff Williams will handle the leasing of the portfolio.

Last month, Endurance sold an industrial portfolio totaling 544,974 square feet in Northeastern, Pa. It was about a year ago when Thackeray Partners teamed with Foundry Commercial on the development of SteelePoint, a 367,000-square-foot project, consisting of two Class A warehouses, in the Southwest submarket of Charlotte, N.C.

Image courtesy of Endurance Real Estate Group