Realterm and J.P. Morgan have partnered to acquire a 1.74 million-square-foot logistics portfolio in a 50/50 joint venture. The portfolio is located in 28 core US industrial markets, including Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia.
The portfolio has impressive stats. It totals 54 properties and is located on a combined 717 acres with 2,090 doors. Each of the assets has direct access to highways, airports and seaports. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP provided legal services to J.P. Morgan Asset Management on this deal.
Stephen Panos, SVP and fund manager at Realterm, described the acquisition as a rare opportunity. "They offer excellent functionality to a wide variety of our customers seeking efficient facilities for final mile and transload operations," he said in a statement. Mike Kelly, head of real estate for the Americas at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, added that portfolios of this size and caliber rarely come to market.
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The end of 2020 was riddled with significant industrial transactions. In December, KKR acquired a 9.7 million-square-foot industrial portfolio for $835 million. The purchase grew the firm's holdings by nearly one-third, giving KKR a total of 30 million square feet in industrial assets. Much like the Realterm, J.P. Morgan deal, the assets were located core US markets, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Central Florida, Dallas, Central Pennsylvania and South Florida.
In the same month, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust acquired 13 properties from Iron Mountain in a $358 million sale leaseback transaction. The 2.1 million square feet portfolio is located predominantly in California, northern New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley, and it will remain occupied by Iron Mountain with an initial ten-year lease term, with options to renew up to an additional 20 years.
Stockbridge Capital Partners also got in on the action. The firm formed a joint venture with National Pension Service of Korea to acquire core logistics properties in the US. In December, the venture committed to acquire a 14.3-million square foot portfolio of class-A logistics facilities in the US. While the value of the portfolio was not disclosed, industry sources pegged the sales price at $2 billion.
Despite the end of the year surge in transaction activity, Colliers International reports that industrial investment is down 25% for the year. As the deal flow suggests, the majority of transactions in 2020 were ecommerce-related properties. Warehouse and distribution deals accounted for 75% of the investment activity, and pricing has increased over 2019 to $101.40 per square foot. This is only the second year on record when pricing for industrial has exceeded $100 per square foot.
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Kelsi Maree Borland
