The Bloom Organization Sells 32-Building Industrial Portfolio

Twinbridge Industrial Park and Veterans Industrial Park. Image courtesy of Colliers International

The Bloom Organization has sold a 32-building industrial portfolio in Pennsauken, N.J., totaling nearly 1.2 million square feet of space to a joint venture of Wharton Industrial and an investment fund affiliated with Walton Street Capital LLC. The price of the Philadelphia-area properties—the Twinbridge Industrial Park and Veterans Industrial Park—was not disclosed.

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Ian Richman and Marc Isdaner of Colliers International announced the sale. Colliers was the sole broker in the transaction and has been retained to lease and manage the properties on behalf of the new ownership group. In March, the same Colliers team arranged the $10.7 million sale of Fellowship Business Center, a five-building office/flex campus in Mount Laurel, N.J., for The Bloom Organization to DIY Media Group.

The Pennsauken properties are located immediately off state highways 73 and 130 and also offer access to Philadelphia via the Betsy Ross and Tacony-Palmyra Bridges. The Colliers team noted the acquisition offered the buyers the rare opportunity to acquire an incredibly well-located infill product in a high-demand submarket.

Twinbridge was developed by The Bloom Organization throughout the 1980s and completed in the early 1990s. It has a mix of single-tenant and multi-tenant buildings and was constructed with tailgate and drive-in loading and 21-foot clear ceilings, which is a competitive advantage in the Camden County, N.J., industrial market. The Twinbridge portfolio consists of every building on Twinbridge Drive and several buildings on Remington Avenue. Veterans was also developed by Bloom and includes 12 buildings on Thomas Busch Highway, Hylton Road and National Highway. Tenants in the portfolio include Nestle Waters, Lennox Industries, Cooper Electric Supply, SodaStream (PepsiCo), Sprint, Kone and Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

Peter Lewis, president of New York City-based Wharton Industrial, said in a prepared statement the buyer group was committed to following in The Bloom Organization’s footsteps by providing a superior product and level of service. Wharton Industrial will unify the properties by renaming Veterans Park “Twinbridge West.” The firm plans to upgrade the common areas, including new signage and enhanced landscaping. Wharton will also be working with Colliers to create a user-friendly website for leasing and maintenance activities.

Previous industrial deals

The acquisition expands Wharton’s industrial holdings in the Philadelphia market. In September, the company acquired a 283,500-square-foot former subway repair warehouse next to Center City in Philadelphia. The company invested about $10 million to upgrade and reposition the facility as SoPhi Logistics Center. It has since been leased to Amazon as a same-day delivery station. Earlier this month, Wharton, Redrock Developments and Westport Capital Partners LLC sold Florida Crossgates Logistics Center, a 617,000-square-foot industrial property in Ocala, Fla., to Lexington Realty Trust in a deal valued at $58.4 million. The newly built property has been leased to Amazon for 10 years.

In February, Chicago-based Walton Street Capital and Greenlaw Partners acquired a 164,486-square-foot industrial building in Chandler, Ariz., from Globe Corp. in an off-market transaction. The two-story facility, completed in 2005, is located on a 16.5-acre site.