HarperCollins' 296,000-SF Facility Trades

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SCRANTON, PA-Chicago-based Walton Street Capital has sold the HarperCollins Building at 1000 Keystone Industrial Park to SC Realty Ventures LP for $11.7 million, or just north of $39.50 per sf. It is 100% leased to the publishing company.

HarperCollins Publishing and its predecessor companies have occupied the building since it was completed in 1967. It was expanded to its current 296,000 sf in 1985 and updated less than a year ago. This is HarperCollins’ national distribution hub and the largest of its two book fulfillment centers in the US.

The tenant had just executed an 11-year lease extension, according to James Vesey, a senior director in Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets group. Vesey, James Sheehan and Jerome Kranzel, senior directors in C&W’s Philadelphia office, were exclusive representatives for the owner and procured the buyer, which is a New York City-based private partnership.

“Selling this asset fits with Walton Street’s long-term plan,” Vesey tells GlobeSt.com, “and the lease-extension made this a good time to sell.” He says rent rates for warehouse distribution facilities here are in the $4.50-per-sf range. “The lease-extension along with the tenant’s creditworthiness and long-term tenure made this an especially attractive property. We had offers from national, regional and local prospects,” he says.

HarperCollins has annual revenues in excess of $1 billion worldwide. Recently, it reported that 2006 represented the company’s ninth consecutive year of record profits.