Blackstone Portfolio Trades for $331M
Longpoint Partners has acquired a 26-building, 1.4 million-square-foot industrial portfolio in South Florida for $331.3 million. Blackstone sold the assets, according to the Commercial Observer.
The infill, last-mile facilities had an average occupancy rate of 97 percent upon closing. Delivered between 1964 and 2003, the light industrial properties feature an average clear height of 21 feet, as well as 50- to 200-foot truck court depth. Notably, nearly a quarter of the portfolio’s expanse comprises office space.
The investor will implement a value-add strategy, according to Longpoint. The investor’s approach involves physical repositioning, adaptive reuse and development.
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More than a third of the facilities are in Miami-Dade County, with the remainder in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The last-mile properties will benefit from the Golden Glades Interchange Enhancement, which is set to add 32 new bridges to augment regional mobility between seaports and airports.
The CBRE team that represented the seller included National Partners Vice Chairmen Jose Lobón, Frank Fallon and Trey Barry, as well as Vice President Royce Rose, to name a few.
Longpoint’s latest purchase isn’t its sole portfolio investment in South Florida. Just last year, the investor paid $260 million for a 25-building deal in Greater Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Seagis Property Group sold the 1.4 million-square-foot asset collection.
The investor is active outside of Florida as well. This summer, Longpoint made its entrance in the Bay Area industrial market by acquiring a three-building, light industrial portfolio in Fremont, Calif., for $31.5 million.
Investors bullish on last-mile assets
Over the past several years, investment in last-mile distribution facilities has increased significantly, Moody’s Senior Economist Ermengarde Jabir previously told Commercial Property Executive.
The niche took off as investors preferred such facilities over assets in traditional locations, according to a 2022 Wealth Management Real Estate survey. Additionally, the survey also found that the price per square foot for last-mile facilities grew at a compound annual rate of 17.2 percent between 2017 and 2022.
Metro Miami’s bulk of industrial sales comprises small-scale facilities
Metro Miami’s industrial investment reflected the study’s findings. A large share of the facilities that changed hands during the first half of the year were under 50,000 square feet—in tune with the characteristics of last-mile properties—and posted a below-average vacancy rate year-over-year, according to a report by Marcus & Millichap.
The bulk of transactions closed below the $10 million mark, while the average price per square foot clocked in at $297 during the same period, Marcus & Millichap shows. Although the industrial deal flow softened compared to previous years, it remained on par with the activity recorded between 2015 and 2019.
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