Warehouse sales were strong in 2011 for Frederick County, a trend that is expected to rise in 2012.
This year’s top industrial/warehouse sales totaled $40 million, a big jump from $12 million for the top seven transactions of 2010.
We covered the top two industrial property sales of 2011 in our 5 Largest Commercial Real Estate Deals in Frederick County, Maryland post, so in the interest of providing new information we beefed up this list with a couple of extra deals to bring the total to lucky seven.
Number 1: $14,731,019 Spectrum Drive Portfolio ($91.81 sq/ft)
Washington Real Estate Investment Trust, a Rockville-based REIT, sold five Spectrum Drive flex industrial properties to AREA Property Partners of New York. The five Spectrum Drive buildings were part of a 40-property portfolio purchase totaling $235.8 million and including properties throughout Maryland and Northern Virginia. Total combined square footage of the buildings in the Frederick portion of the portfolio is 160,445.
Number 2: $8,500,000 270 Interstate Court ($82.32 sq/ft)
A group controlled by Gail Guyton of Morgan Keller sold 270 Interstate Court, a 103,250 SF industrial warehouse building, to Leo Rocca of 260 Interstate LLC in March. Colonial Sash and Door was the key tenant at time of sale, but Stulz Air Technology now leases a large portion of the building.
Number 3: $5,450,000 U-Haul Mini Storage
AREC 14 LLC purchased the U-Haul Moving and Storage of Frederick facilities at 400-410 Prospect Boulevard in November from Amerco Real Estate Company. Both companies appear to be related to U-Haul. Information was not readily available on the square footage of the storage buildings.
Number 4: $4,175,388 Industrial Center East ($54.21 sq/ft)
Frederick Ice LLC sold 10 units at 1539 Tilco Drive in Frederick to H&G Ice Frederick LLC in June. The sale encompassed 18 condo units that totaled about 77,029 square feet. The units were vacant at the time of sale. This was an investment purchase by H&G Ice; they plan to sell some units and rent the remainder. (They quickly flipped unit 124 in August, see #6 below.)
Number 5: $2,848,900 8005 Reichs Ford Road ($166.23 sq/ft)
MacRo, Ltd. facilitated this real estate transaction. Local entrepreneur Brian Sclar of Reliable Recycling purchased this from Wastler IIII, LLC in June. The 5.85 acre site includes a 17,138 square-foot industrial building. This unique building was previously occupied by an affiliate of the owner: Wastler Construction. Reliable Recycling of took full occupancy of the building. This was a hot property as reflected by the final sale price. The site went on the market in November 2010 and within days received an offer for over $3 million. After 60 days of study, the first purchaser terminated. Within one week two more proposals were presented, one of which was Sclar.
Number 6: $2,308,500 Industrial Center East ($90.07 sq/ft)
H&G Ice Frederick LLC sold condominium unit 124 of 1539 Tilco Drive to DMAC Properties LLC in August. The unit is 25,629 square feet.
Number 7: $1,970,000 12061 Old National Pike ($51.84 sq/ft)
Tri M Properties LLC purchased a 38,000 square foot industrial self-storage building on Old National Pike from Brian Loffredo in March.
Looking for a solid commercial real estate investment in 2012? Industrial property is a segment to pay close attention to! Coy Davidson of Colliers International recently predicted in The Tenant Advisor that warehouse properties are going to be the new rising star of commercial real estate in 2012.
We’ll talk more about why Davidson and his analysts think warehouse is a good bet in a future post. We’ll be summarizing Frederick County’s 2012 commercial real estate outlook by segment: office, industrial, multifamily, and land. Stay tuned!
The author: Rocky Mackintosh, President, MacRo, Ltd., a Land and Commercial Real Estate firm based in Frederick, Maryland. He also writes for TheTentacle.com.