EQT Exeter Buys Cleveland-Area 434 KSF Industrial Asset

A joint venture between Westminster Capital and GEIS sold Gateway Commerce Center, a 434,171-square-foot, Class A industrial property in Streetsboro, Ohio, to EQT Exeter. The asset traded for $40.2 million, according to CommercialEdge data. JLL represented the seller.

FNS, a 3PL company, is the sole tenant, occupying the entire building. It inked the lease in the third quarter last year, Newmark reported. Prior to the deal, the facility had been vacant for nearly two years.

The cross-dock facility features 32-foot clear heights, 56 dock doors, eight drive-in doors and 180-foot truck courts. Gateway Commerce Center may be divided into 100,000-square-foot units.

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Located at 10242 State Route 43, the building is roughly 32 miles southeast from downtown Cleveland and about 27 miles northeast of downtown Akron, Ohio. Interstates 480 and 80 can be found within 5 miles of the facility.

JLL Senior Managing Directors John Huguenard and Sean Devaney, as well as Managing Director Ed Halaburt, led the Investment Sales and Advisory team representing Westminster and GEIS in the transaction.

The duo teamed up in 2020 to build the facility on a speculative basis. Funding included a $20.3 million note issued by the Lake Forest Bank & Trust Co., CommercialEdge shows. JobsOhio’s Site Inventory Program—which offered grants and low-interest loans for speculative projects—also provided debt. Gateway Commerce Center was the first Northeast Ohio development to benefit from the program.  

At that time, the project tied with a 434,000-square-foot industrial property in Glenwillow, Ohio, for Northeast Ohio’s largest speculative facility, JLL reported. Investcorp bought that facility in 2020 as part of a portfolio deal.

Metro Cleveland’s industrial assets trade at a bargain

Greater Cleveland’s industrial sales volume clocked in at $254 million year-to-date through August, a CommercialEdge report shows. Assets traded at an average of $49 per square foot, substantially below the $132 national average. Only metro Kansas City, Mo., recorded a lower figure, $48 per square foot.

Earlier this year, Caspian Group purchased Shoreway Commerce Park for $9 million from First Interstate Properties. The 445,682-square-foot industrial park is in an Opportunity Zone within Cuyahoga County, Ohio.