WHIPPANY, NJ-Griffin Capital Corp., on behalf of the Griffin Capital Net Lease REIT, will acquire a 114,265-square-foot assembly and manufacturing facility here for $13 million, marking its first purchase in the Northeastern United States.

The building is 100% leased to and occupied by GE Aviation Systems under a long-term triple-net lease guaranteed by GE Aviation Systems' parent, General Electric Co.

"The acquisition of the GE Aviation Systems Building represents our first major acquisition in the Northeast US, a market we have been targeting for some time for the diversity and resilience of the regional economy," says Don Pescara, Griffin's managing director of acquisitions, in a statement.

Griffin declined to comment further to GlobeSt.com until after the deal is closed. "This transaction is particularly attractive due to the institutional quality of the building, the amenity-rich neighborhood, and GE's superior tenant credit quality, all in one of the largest metropolitan markets in the country,” he says, in a statement. “We are also attracted by GE's long-term commitment to the property, and their ongoing investments to significantly improve the space." The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

In December, Griffin announced that Key Bank National Association and Bank of America N.A. agreed to provide the Net Lease REIT with a $150 million senior secured revolving credit facility to pursue purchase of single-tenant office, industrial and warehouse properties with long-term triple-net leases.  At the time, Griffin Capital chairman and CEO Kevin A. Shields noted in a statement that  “we have several potential acquisition properties that we intend to close between now and the end of the first quarter of 2012.”