Memphis Industrial Portfolio Commands $50M

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Jim Diamond, Diamond Properties CEO

A joint venture between Diamond Properties and funds managed by Ares Management LP has acquired Memphis Depot, a 43-building industrial portfolio in Memphis, Tenn., from Mayfield Properties LP for $50 million.

HFF arranged the sale and secured $32.5 million in financing for the purchase, connecting the buyers with a seven-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan from Allegiant Real Estate Capital.

Memphis Depot is the largest single-asset industrial trade in Memphis in almost two years, as the entire portfolio consists of approximately 4.2 million square feet.

“It’s a very large portfolio in a market that we love, with a lot of long-term potential for value growth,” Jim Diamond, Diamond Properties’ CEO, told Commercial Property Executive. “We’ve always been excited about adaptive reuse projects, and the way that this former military base was successfully repurposed into industrial really resonated with us.”

At the time of the sale, the portfolio was 91 percent leased.

Memphis Depot consists of 43 distribution and warehouse facilities grouped in a trio of sections. There’s North Park, consisting of 25 buildings with clear heights ranging from 14 to 16 feet; South Park, totaling 14 buildings with an average clear height of 20 feet; and Interior Park, a four-building complex with an average clear height of 25 feet. 

Interest in Memphis

All 43 buildings are situated on 265 acres in an infill location close by Memphis International Airport, and just five miles from downtown Memphis.

According to Diamond, the company found 4.2 million square feet on 265 acres within one mile of the No. 1 busiest freight airport in the United States, and No. 2 in the world, to be very compelling.

“We entered the Memphis market in late 2016 with our acquisition of Shelby Air Park, a 1 million-square-foot portfolio within the southeast submarket,” Diamond said. “We’ve done well at Shelby as the market has continued to strengthen. We’d been looking for additional Memphis industrial acquisitions since then, and missed out on a couple that we bid on in 2017.”

Memphis Depot

At this point, no major renovations are planned as the buildings have been well-managed for a long time and are in good condition, and Diamond Properties intends to keep doing what the former owners were doing well.

Built as a military supply base for use in World War II in 1942, the once Memphis Defense Depot was redeveloped in 1997 as an industrial park by the city of Memphis and Shelby County.  

Seven years later, the NAID, an association of defense communities, pointed to the project as a top example for an implemented military redevelopment plan from a field of more than 100 bases.

The HFF investment advisory team included Managing Director Adam Herrin and Director Stephen Bailey, as well as Senior Managing Director Jason Nettles. Meanwhile, the HFF debt placement team representing the borrower consisted of Senior Managing Director Brian Carlton and Analysts David Wheless and Nielsen Koepfgen.

In April, HFF worked on behalf of Phase 3 Real Estate Partners to arrange the refinancing of Genesis North and South Towers, two Class A buildings in South San Francisco, Calif.

Image courtesy of Diamond Properties