Principal Real Estate Buys Amazon Facility

539 Route 130. Image courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

Principal Real Estate Investors is adding to its industrial holdings with the acquisition of a 171,269-square-foot, newly built warehouse at 539 Route 130 in Hamilton Township, N.J.

Developers Penwood Real Estate Investment Management and Metrix Real Estate Services sold the Class A asset that is fully leased by Amazon, according to CommercialEdge information. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the transaction.

Also known as 130 Commerce Center, the facility features 36-foot clear heights, up to 40 loading positions, parking for 150 cars and trailer storage. The 16.6-acre property also includes a ground lease with a bank branch.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Gary Gabriel, Kyle Schmidt and Ryan Larkin negotiated the deal on behalf of the sellers. Gabriel noted, in prepared remarks, the property’s strategic location in a tight New Jersey industrial market coupled with a long-term lease to a strong credit tenant made the asset a very attractive acquisition.

A successful redevelopment

The warehouse came online in 2021 following the redevelopment of a former shopping center known as the Shoppes at Hamilton. Penwood, through its fifth valued-added investment vehicle, Penwood Select Industrial Partners V LP, and its development partner Metrix, had acquired the site in September 2019. In February 2021, the owners received $12.7 million in construction financing for the speculative facility.

Michael Nachamkin, managing partner of Princeton, N.J.,-based Metrix, said in a prepared statement the project did not require any zoning changes and received approvals very quickly from the municipality. Nachamkin explained the site provided an attractive opportunity to convert the retail center into in-demand industrial space.

A tight industrial market

The asset is at Exit 7A along Route 130 in the Trenton, N.J., area. Part of the Exit 7A industrial submarket of Northern New Jersey, the property is minutes from interstates 195 and 95. Routes 1 and 206 are also easily accessible, providing fast connections to Philadelphia, New York City and the region’s ports. 

New Jersey’s industrial market started the year with what Colliers called “remarkable fundamentals and robust leasing volume” in its Q1 2022 market report. Sustained positive net absorption lowered the vacancy rate statewide to 2.9 percent, the lowest on record.

In the Exit 7A submarket, vacancy was even lower, at 1.4 percent. The submarket had 14.4 million square feet of space in inventory and about 1.6 million square feet under construction during the first quarter, according to Colliers research. Furthermore, Exit 7A saw one of the quarter’s largest leases statewide as Keurig signed on for 499,898 square feet at 24 Applegate Drive in Robbinsville, N.J.