Monmouth Buys NJ Industrial Asset for $85M

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. has acquired a new 347,145-square-foot industrial building in Trenton, N.J., for a little over $85 million.

Located at 584 US Highway 130, the property is currently occupied by FedEx Ground Packaging System Inc., which has 14 years remaining on a 15-year net lease.

“Centrally located between New York City and Philadelphia, this location serves 10 percent of the U.S. population within a 75-mile radius and 33 percent of the U.S. population within a two-hour drive,” Michael Landy, Monmouth Real Estate’s president & CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We have strategically positioned many of our assets to benefit from the recently expanded Panama Canal and this acquisition will provide additional exposure to this proven concept.”

Convenient access

The property, which is on 62 acres, is close by the New Jersey Turnpike, Interstate 195, and Interstate 295, and just 45 miles south of Newark International Airport and the Port of New York and New Jersey.

According to CBRE’s Industrial Market Report for this year’s third quarter, the average asking rents in New Jersey reached its highest peak ever, with $7.09 per square foot. Trenton’s industrial prices continue to rise as well, as demand is as strong as it’s ever been.

In September, Monmouth Real Estate paid $61.1 million to acquire a 373,750-square-foot industrial asset northeast of Atlanta, from SunCap Property Group. The newly constructed building serves as a distribution center for FedEx Ground, which has net leased the property for 15 years.

Monmouth Real Estate’s portfolio now consists of 112 properties across 30 states, containing nearly 21.5 million rentable square feet.