Exeter Property Group Buys Industrial Site Near Indianapolis

Mount Comfort Commercial Park. Image courtesy of Colliers International

Exeter Property Group, a Conshohocken, Pa.,-based real estate investment management firm focused on industrial properties across North America and Europe, has acquired a 52-acre site in Mount Comfort Commercial Park near Indianapolis from Becknell Industrial.

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Exeter plans to immediately begin construction on a 955,687-square-foot speculative warehouse on the property. The building, scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, will feature a 40-foot clear height, 282 trailer parks and 80 exterior docks.

Exeter is one of the largest industrial property owners in the Indianapolis market. In December 2019, when Exeter had acquired Mount Comfort Building 115, located at 7284 West 200 North in Greenfield, Ind., Colliers International stated Exeter owned more than 11.2 million square feet of industrial assets in Indianapolis at that time. Exeter planned to expand the 200,000-square-foot modern bulk facility on that lot to 398,000 square feet. In August 2020, The Opus Group said it was beginning construction of an 862,235-square-foot building in Mount Comfort, Ind., that would be owned by Exeter. The development, located in the Point 70 Logistics Park, was expected to be completed this summer.

Ownership of Exeter has recently changed with global private equity firm TA Associates selling its funds’ ownership interest in Exeter to EQT AB for $1.87 billion. The transaction was completed in April. Upon closing, Exeter and EQT’s real estate businesses were combined as EQT Exeter.

Becknell also building

A Colliers Midwest Industrial Sales Team led by Alex Cantu in the Indianapolis office and Jeff Devine and Steven Disse in the Chicago office, arranged the Mount Comfort Commercial Park deal on behalf of Becknell. Based in Carmel, Ind., Becknell specializes in the development, investment and management of industrial properties across the U.S. The company owns interests in 185 properties totaling more than 30 million square feet. Becknell is currently developing two industrial buildings totaling 650,000 square feet in the Mount Comfort Commercial Park.

Growing submarket

Located off I-70, a primary east-west highway, Mount Comfort is one of Indianapolis’ fastest growing modern logistics submarkets. More than 5 million square feet of new users have recently opened logistics operations or committed to the Mount Comfort submarket, according to Colliers. Hancock County, where Mount Comfort is located, plans to spend more than $30 million in infrastructure improvements to its major thoroughfares to accommodate the needs of the modern logistics users.