Realterm Buys 540 KSF Last-Mile Portfolio
Chicago, Detroit and Louisville are the locations of these assets.
Continuing its buying binge from 2021 into the New Year, Realterm has announced the acquisition of a fully leased portfolio of final-mile warehouse assets totaling approximately 541,400 square feet. The collection consists of four assets sited in key markets in Kentucky, Michigan and Illinois.
Realterm is not disclosing the financial terms of the transaction or the identity of the seller, which relied on the representation of JLL. The portfolio includes two facilities in Louisville, Ky., including a 240,000-square-foot property at 7201 Logistics Drive. Built in 1997, the facility occupies a 25.4-acre site. The other Louisville property is 3400 Robards Court, which first opened its doors in 1985 and encompasses 84,000 square feet on a nearly 10-acre site.
One of the remaining two assets in the last-mile portfolio is 48282 Frank St., an approximately 134,400-square-foot, metropolitan Detroit facility built in 2018 on 15.4 acres in Wixom, Mich. And rounding out the collection is 611 Commerce Center Drive, an 83,000-square-foot property in University Park, Ill. The property occupies a 14.2-acre site roughly 40 miles outside Chicago.
These four strategic investments are well-located in markets that continue to post low industrial vacancy rates and deliver superior proximity to major distribution corridors, densely populated communities and other industrial users, Rob Moriarty, an associate vice president with Realterm, said in a prepared statement.
Long live last mile
The demand for last-mile facilities was on the rise pre-pandemic due to increased e-commerce activity, and as COVID-19 took hold and e-commerce skyrocketed, so did the need for last-mile accommodations. Now, a perfect storm exists for the last-mile sector of industrial real estate.
“The surge in e-commerce, labor shortages and insightful consumer expectations, in terms of speed and delivery of product, have added more pressure than ever to the supply chain and its operations. As a result, industries servicing the supply chain and e-commerce, continue to experience an increase in demand,” according to a 2021 third-quarter report by JLL.
Realterm was highly acquisitive in the last-mile industrial sector throughout 2021. In the month of December alone, the company acquired six last-mile facilities totaling more than 630,000 square feet in five separate transactions.
