EQT Exeter Buys Industrial Asset for $42M

450 Winks Lane. Image courtesy of ASB Real Estate Investments and Endurance Real Estate Group

Global real estate operator EQT Exeter has acquired a 430,373-square-foot, multi-tenant industrial building in Bensalem, Pa., from joint venture partners ASB Real Estate Investments and Endurance Real Estate Group LLC for nearly $42 million. ASB Real Estate’s sale was made on behalf of its Meridian Real Estate Fund II.

READ ALSO: Why Industrial Space Demand Exceeds Expectations

Endurance, through an affiliate, acquired the property at 450 Winks Lane in Bucks County just north of Philadelphia in December 2018. The purchase price was $23.7 million, according to CommercialEdge data. The seller was Ivy Realty, which had paid $13 million for the property in 2017, according to Bucks County records.

Built in 1973, the property is located within the Expressway 95 Business Park and has access to major arteries including US Routes 1, 13, 130, the New Jersey Turnpike and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The asset had renovations in 2018, including a new roof and upgrades to the building’s mezzanine and landscaping.

The warehouse/distribution facility features clearance heights ranging from 28 to 40 feet, LED and T-5 lighting, 38 dock-high loading doors and six drive-in doors. Tenants include National Refrigeration, Rolled Metal Products and Brenner Aero Structures, which had all renewed their leases shortly before the 2018 purchase.

Albert Corr, Endurance senior vice president, said in a prepared statement the diverse tenant roster made the property a desirable industrial opportunity. He also noted demand for infill industrial assets is a strong market driver in the suburban Philadelphia markets. Corr said the marketing process was highly competitive and many buyers were interested in the property.

Brodie Ruland, ASB managing director & co-head of acquisitions, said in prepared remarks the sale represented an excellent execution of the company’s value creation strategy. Ruland added the sale benefited from current high demand from institutional investors for industrial properties which is driving down cap rates, increasing valuations and escalating sale prices.

The CBRE National Partners team of Brad Ruppel, Mike Hines, Brian Fiumara and Lauren Dawicki represented the seller and procured the buyer.

Earlier deals

In July 2020, a joint venture between Endurance Real Estate Group and Thackeray Partners sold a four-property industrial portfolio totaling 240,358 square feet in Fairless Hills, Pa., to Exeter Property Group for $18 million.

In April, Exeter Property Group was acquired by EQT AB for $1.87 billion from global private equity firm TA Associates. The firm is now known as EQT Exeter. An active investor in the U.S. industrial market, one of its most recent acquisitions was the purchase in June of a 52-acre site in Mount Comfort Commercial Park near Indianapolis from Becknell Industrial.

EQT Exeter, one of the largest industrial property owners in the Indianapolis market, planned to immediately begin construction of a 955,687-square-foot speculative warehouse on the site. Also in June, EQT Exeter acquired a 241,676-square-foot, three-building office and industrial property in the Price Road Corridor in Chandler, Ariz., from Digital Realty Trust.