PHOENIX-National Beverage Properties, a Los Angeles-based firm that specializes in buying properties leased to beverage companies, has acquired 248,900-sf Crescent Crown Distributing warehouse from locally based Zeb Pearce Cos. for $25.2 million. The triple net lease runs until 2012.
The warehouse, positioned on 18.57 acres at 402 S. 54th Place, is 100% occupied by Crescent Crown Distributing, one of the nation's largest beer distributors. Steve Lindley of Phoenix-based Grubb & Ellis|BRE Commercial tells GlobeSt.com that the buyer has landed an "irreplaceable" asset in terms of its location. The property is adjacent to the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway and one mile east of the 143 Hohokam Expressway, just east of the main eastern entrance to Sky Harbor International Airport. Lindley and Grubb & Ellis brokers Bob Buckley and Tracy Cartledge represented both parties in the transaction.
The single-story warehouse has a two-story office area accounting for nearly 13% of the building space and includes features not usually found in warehouses like a conference room with a built-in serving bar and kitchen area with granite countertops and stainless steel sinks. The warehouse space is exceptional too because it includes features like 36-foot clear height, cold-storage warehouse area along with shop buildings and fueling facilities to service the beverage delivery fleet, according to the brokers.
The tenant, Crescent Crown Distributing, is the fifth largest beer distributor in the US. Lindley says the seller, a private family investment company, built the facility in 1999 and expanded it in 2003. The seller had owned the beer distribution business, but sold it several years ago.
The asset attracted lots of interest from a range of prospective buyers because of the quality of the location and the triple-net lease running until 2012, according to Lindley. The airport submarket has no warehouse space under construction and its vacancy is down to 6.9%. "Land prices have skyrocketed in the area surrounding the property, to the point where new development of distribution warehouse properties is virtually no longer feasible," the team says.
Lindley says the most unusual aspect of the deal possibly was the buyer. National Beverage has carved out a niche as a buyer of warehouses leased to beverage distributors. "They understand how that real estate works and they are making a market in it," he says.
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