Phoenix Investors to Acquire World’s First Industrial Park

Nela Park

An affiliate of Milwaukee-based commercial real estate firm Phoenix Investors said it plans to acquire Nela Park in East Cleveland, Ohio, the headquarters of GE Lighting considered to be the first industrial park in the world, from Savant Systems Inc.

The sales price for the nearly 1 million-square-foot historic office and industrial campus was not disclosed. The deal is expected to close later this month. Built in 1913, the park spans more than 138 acres and about 20 buildings, including industrial space, office space, a cafeteria and a fitness center. The property located at 1975 Noble Road also has outdoor recreation facilities.

The Lighting Institute, founded in 1933 as the first facility in the world to teach about lighting science, still operates. The building it’s located in was completed in 1921 and renovated in 1946, 1988 and 2006, according to CommercialEdge. Buildings 325, 328-330, 334-336 and 338 were industrial buildings constructed between 1913 and 1921 that were converted to office space in 1985, CommercialEdge reported.

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General Electric sold GE Lighting to Savant, a leader in the professional smart home industry, in July 2020. Savant plans to reduce its footprint for GE Lighting at Nela Park after the sale closes. Crain’s Cleveland Business reported the company, which has about 250 employees at the site, could occupy about 20 percent of the space under a long-term lease once the property changes hands.

Growth plans

Kathy Sterio, president of GE Lighting, said in a prepared statement the sale is great news for the company’s business and future of Nela Park as well as the surrounding communities. She said Phoenix Investors has a track record of success reinvigorating and investing in commercial real estate to attract new tenants and expects the privately-owned company will use the same approach at Nela Park.

Frank Crivello, founder & chairman of Phoenix Investors, said in prepared remarks the company would add another historic property to the firm’s portfolio. In September, Phoenix Investors acquired a 130-acre campus with 29 buildings in Endicott, N.Y., that is known as the birthplace of IBM. The Huron Campus has about 4 million square feet of industrial, office and R&D space. Prior to the sale, Phoenix Investors began collaborating with the owners, a local investment group, to add more companies to the site, including Imperium3 and Ubiquity Solar. IBM still maintains a presence on the campus and other prominent tenants include BAE Systems.

Crivello said Phoenix Investors plans to honor Nela Park’s history as well, while making thoughtful renovations to attract high-quality tenants to the East Cleveland campus.

Phoenix Investors’ affiliate companies hold interests in approximately 52 million square feet of industrial, office, retail and single-tenant net-leased properties across 29 states. The firm’s core business is the revitalization of former manufacturing facilities. In December 2020, Phoenix Investors acquired an 891,000-square-foot industrial property near Montgomery, Ala., from Russell Brands that had been a clothing manufacturing plant that had closed in 2013. That deal came two months after the firm acquired a 1.6 million-square-foot portfolio spanning three assets in Tennessee from Frog Properties.