CARROLLTON, TX-Home Interiors & Gifts Inc. has set up the largest industrial deal of the year, inking a sale-leaseback for its 659,535-sf headquarters and sole US distribution center. The new titleholder is a joint venture between First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. and UBS Realty Investors.
Transwestern Commercial Services' Dallas principals Robert Deptula and Nora Hogan had the deal for 1649 Frankford Rd. in the market nearly six months before it crossed the finish line. "There are not a lot of people outside of investment-grade buyers who would be interested in a regional company and one not publicly traded," Deptula says, "unlike European investors who perceive it to be an excellent opportunity to acquire an income stream in a newer institutional-quality facility."
The 29.9-acre site was developed in 2000 by Argent Property Co. It's assessed at $20.8 million by Dallas County. "It certainly represented a market deal for this type of facility," Deptula tells GlobeSt.com, "given the scarcity of developable land in the Carrollton-Lewisville market." A more definitive price was unable to be secured by deadline.
Deptula says a half dozen or so institutional investors put in offers, underwritten by a long-term lease from a homegrown company with 100,000 sales representatives in the US. Trey Fricke, principal in Lee & Associates Dallas, negotiated the win for Chicago-based First Industrial and Stanford, CT-headquartered UBS.
Deptula says the deal closed on an all-cash basis. From the seller's perspective, he says "it was an excellent time to get out of the real estate business and focus on their core business."
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