Westcore Purchases Industrial Asset for $54M

Halsey Business Park. Image courtesy of Skyris Imaging LLC

Westcore is off to a busy start in the New Year with the announcement of its second acquisition of 2022, Halsey Business Park in Gresham, Ore. The commercial real estate company purchased the approximately 405,000-square-foot, suburban Portland industrial asset from DRA Advisors in a transaction valued at $54.1 million.

Halsey Business Park carries the address of 18225-18557 N.E. Halsey St. and sits within roughly 7 miles of Portland International Airport in Portland’s coveted Northeast industrial submarket. The 15-acre property last changed ownership in 2016, when DRA acquired it for $22.3 million, according to CommercialEdge. Today the warehouse facility, originally developed in 1960, is 100 percent leased to American Direct, International Paper and Trailblazer Foods, which became a tenant in 2015 with the lease of 134,400 square feet at 18285 N.E. Halsey St.

Westcore is not shy about its intentions where Halsey Business Park is concerned. “Westcore plans to enjoy the benefits of an escalating rental climate in Portland as leases roll,” Peter Mette, director of acquisitions with Westcore, told Commercial Property Executive.

READ ALSO: What to Expect From the Industrial Sector in 2022

Halsey Business Park. Image courtesy of Skyris Imaging LLC

With a growing population driving warehouse occupancy, the metropolitan Portland industrial market saw its overall vacancy rate drop to 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter and its 2021 annual absorption reach 4.8 million square feet, a figure far beyond the 10-year average of 3.3 million square feet, according to a report by CBRE. Additionally, with limited supply and strong demand, industrial asking rents continue on the upswing. “We expect to hold the asset for the long term,” Mette added.

Westcore relied on internal representation in the Halsey Business Park transaction, while the seller turned to representation from the JLL team of Buzz Ellis, Mark Detmer, Ryan Sitov and Tyler Sheils.

Crowded buying field

Westcore’s acquisition of Halsey Business Park comes roughly two weeks after the early-January news of the company’s purchase of Park 225, an approximately 143,000-square-foot industrial asset in Aurora, Colo. Westcore bought the Denver-area property from a joint venture between Karis Capital and AEW in a $33 million deal. Despite the quick succession of transactions, which had followed a series of purchases throughout 2021, the company concedes that gobbling up premier industrial assets in today’s investment climate is no simple feat.

“The market for industrial asset investments is awash with capital chasing too few deals. It’s as competitive as I have ever seen it over that last 25 years,” Mette said.

Regardless of the hoard of eager buyers in the industrial real estate sector, Westcore’s goals for the year remain the same. “We are looking to grow our investment portfolio by continuing to invest in functional, well-located industrial assets nationally,” Mette noted.