1MSF Warehouse Sold, Retooled in Charlotte

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY NEWS
By: Tony Auer, Southwest Correspondent

Capitalizing on a growing warehouse market in Charlotte, N.C., a new partnership purchased an empty, single-tenant, 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse for below market costs with plans to divide the property and remarket it as multi-tenant space.

Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital established a new partnership with Los Angeles-based investor Nick Tasooji, called W. T. Charlotte, L.L.C. The partnership purchased the 66-acre, 1,093,000-square-foot former Winn Dixie Southeast Distribution Center at 2401 Nevada Blvd. in Charlotte, N.C., and has renamed it Logistics Pointe. The selling price was not disclosed.

“We saw a potential by getting it for below market cost. The market is good in Charlotte for distribution,” Stephen H. Kanoff, executive vice president of Westmount told CPN. “We think it will be successful with the right mix of capital improvements. We already have interest in leasing.”

The site is located within close proximity to major traffic arteries with I-77, I-485, I-85 and the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport nearby. The property is also in the largest industrial market in the Carolinas. Colliers Pinkard will handle all of the property management and leasing of the property with the exception of a 209,000-square-foot cooler building, which will be marketed by CB Richard Ellis Inc.

“The building is vacant now, but we’re working on a couple of leases that could take it up to 45 percent occupied,” said Lane Holbert, vice president of industrial services group for Colliers Pinkard in Charlotte. “This landlord will be able to offer a very high quality product at below the prices of new construction. It has extra trailer parking and good modern buildings.”

The asking lease rate on the dry space is $2.95 per square foot, triple net, Holbert said. Some of the newer properties in the area are asking $3.25 to $3.75 per square foot. The acquisition vaults W. T. Charlotte, L.L.C. into fifth position as the largest property owner in Charlotte. An affiliate of Wachovia Securities was the seller.