A Maryland-based real estate firm has landed in Richmond after buying a $20 million portfolio near Richmond International Airport.
Baltimore-based Manekin this month picked up three buildings totaling 617,232 square feet at Interport Business Center. The industrial park portfolio, acquired from the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, is Manekin’s first reach into the Richmond area. The deal closed Dec. 6.
Owen Rouse
Owen Rouse, a senior vice president at the firm, said Amazon’s investment in two massive distribution centers nearby drew Manekin’s attention to Richmond’s industrial market.
“It’s a growing market, and the Amazon news certainly doesn’t hurt the industrial world there,” Rouse said. “I think it sort of ratifies Richmond’s stature in the logistics food chain, and that certainly caught our eye.”
Manekin’s new buildings sit on about 33 acres at Laburnum Avenue and Eubank Road. The portfolio includes about 555,000 square feet of warehouse space, 53,000 square feet of flex space and 7,000 square feet of office space.
The properties are about 60 percent leased, the company said. Logistics firms National Deliver Systems, Bermuda Distribution and Riverside Logistics are three of the complex’s largest tenants. The properties’ other 40 percent – about 247,000 square feet of industrial space – makes up the largest chunk of vacant warehouse space in the airport submarket, Rouse said.
“We’re buying it partially leased in a market that has a lot of good stuff going on,” Rouse said. “I think people have kind of held their nose to the east side and now, with the Shops at White Oak Village, it’s like destination retail at 64 and Laburnum Avenue.”
One of Manekin’s new buildings at Laburnum Avenue and Eubank Road. (Courtesy of Manekin)
The largest of Manekin’s buildings, a 444,069-square-foot warehouse at 4800 Eubank Road, was built in 1971. The two smaller buildings, one at Glen Alden Drive and another fronting Laburnum Avenue, were built in 1997 and 1999.
AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust bought the portfolio for $5.37 million in 2007, according to Henrico County records. The firm also owns the 868,000-square-foot Walthall Business Center in Colonial Heights and a 293,000-square-foot industrial building at Northlake in Ashland, according to its website.
AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust president Mike Stotz did return a phone message by press time.
The Manekin deal is the second major industrial purchase near the Richmond International Airport in the past four months. Dominion Packaging in August bought the 317,000-square-foot former Mazda warehouse at 5700 Audubon Dr. and plans to move its headquarters into the building in 2014.
Manekin does not have any immediate plans for further acquisitions in the market, but Rouse said it would continue to keep an eye on Richmond.
“People pass Richmond by, and they shouldn’t,” he said. “We had looked at some other acquisitions earlier in the year and were unsuccessful and got to know the market through that exercise.”
A Maryland-based real estate firm has landed in Richmond after buying a $20 million portfolio near Richmond International Airport.
Baltimore-based Manekin this month picked up three buildings totaling 617,232 square feet at Interport Business Center. The industrial park portfolio, acquired from the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, is Manekin’s first reach into the Richmond area. The deal closed Dec. 6.
Owen Rouse
Owen Rouse, a senior vice president at the firm, said Amazon’s investment in two massive distribution centers nearby drew Manekin’s attention to Richmond’s industrial market.
“It’s a growing market, and the Amazon news certainly doesn’t hurt the industrial world there,” Rouse said. “I think it sort of ratifies Richmond’s stature in the logistics food chain, and that certainly caught our eye.”
Manekin’s new buildings sit on about 33 acres at Laburnum Avenue and Eubank Road. The portfolio includes about 555,000 square feet of warehouse space, 53,000 square feet of flex space and 7,000 square feet of office space.
The properties are about 60 percent leased, the company said. Logistics firms National Deliver Systems, Bermuda Distribution and Riverside Logistics are three of the complex’s largest tenants. The properties’ other 40 percent – about 247,000 square feet of industrial space – makes up the largest chunk of vacant warehouse space in the airport submarket, Rouse said.
“We’re buying it partially leased in a market that has a lot of good stuff going on,” Rouse said. “I think people have kind of held their nose to the east side and now, with the Shops at White Oak Village, it’s like destination retail at 64 and Laburnum Avenue.”
One of Manekin’s new buildings at Laburnum Avenue and Eubank Road. (Courtesy of Manekin)
The largest of Manekin’s buildings, a 444,069-square-foot warehouse at 4800 Eubank Road, was built in 1971. The two smaller buildings, one at Glen Alden Drive and another fronting Laburnum Avenue, were built in 1997 and 1999.
AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust bought the portfolio for $5.37 million in 2007, according to Henrico County records. The firm also owns the 868,000-square-foot Walthall Business Center in Colonial Heights and a 293,000-square-foot industrial building at Northlake in Ashland, according to its website.
AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust president Mike Stotz did return a phone message by press time.
The Manekin deal is the second major industrial purchase near the Richmond International Airport in the past four months. Dominion Packaging in August bought the 317,000-square-foot former Mazda warehouse at 5700 Audubon Dr. and plans to move its headquarters into the building in 2014.
Manekin does not have any immediate plans for further acquisitions in the market, but Rouse said it would continue to keep an eye on Richmond.
“People pass Richmond by, and they shouldn’t,” he said. “We had looked at some other acquisitions earlier in the year and were unsuccessful and got to know the market through that exercise.”