W.P. Carey Invests $75M in Food Production Facility

Gino Sabatini, Head of Investments, W.P. Carey

W.P. Carey Inc. will invest $75 million in a 290,000-square-foot, build-to-suit food production facility in San Antonio. Cambridge Holdings develops the property for its current tenant, Cuisine Solutions, which will provide the money for the rest of the final project cost. 

Construction on the new facility is slated to start in March, once all permits and building plans have been approved. Once completed, it will support Cuisine Solutions’ future growth plans and enable a greater production capacity—a strong need among the company’s core partners. Once completed in 2020, the facility is expected to add more than 500 jobs over the ensuing four years.

The project will be situated in the former U.S. Brooks Air Force base, now a 1,300-acre mixed-use community located under 10 miles from downtown San Antonio.

“The new production facility will not only help Cuisine respond to increasing customer demand, but will create additional value for W.P. Carey shareholders,” Gino Sabatini, W.P. Carey’s head of investments, said in a prepared statement. 

Making improvements

In addition to the new facility, W.P. Carey has invested $10 million to improve Cuisine’s current facility in Sterling, Va. W.P. Carey purchased the asset in 2012.

“The long-term investment from W.P. Carey will enable us to fund our long-term operational needs with a new global food processing facility, while also upgrading our existing Virginia facility,” Stanislas Vilgrain, Cuisine Solutions’ chairman & CEO, said

According to terms of the deal, Cuisine’s existing lease in Virginia will be incorporated into a new triple-net master lease governing both facilities, with a term of 26.5 years and 2 percent rental bumps.

One of the world’s most noted manufacturer and distributor of sous vide foods, Cuisine’s products are utilized by a wide variety of food service providers around the globe. 

W.P. Carey has nearly $17 billion of assets in its REIT portfolio, which includes 1,186 net lease properties and 133 million square feet.

In August, W.P. Carey sold One Bridgestone Park, a three-story, 66,264-square-foot building in Nashville, Tenn., to Yonezawa-Miller Co. for $12.6 million.

Image courtesy of W.P. Carey