An industrial property in Fife, Wash. was recently sold to Berkeley Partners for $14.55 million. According to Pierce County public records, the San Francisco-based real estate investment firm purchased the property from a private owner affiliated with Simon Johnson Pacific Highway LLC.
Located at 1323 34th Avenue E., public records show that the property consists of a 1980s-era industrial building totaling 54,000 square feet as well as 2.69 acres of undeveloped land. Berkeley Partners, which focuses on acquiring industrial properties throughout the U.S. has yet to announce plans for redevelopment at the site.
The real estate investment company acquired the property through its $400 million value-add fund, Berkeley Partners Value Industrial Fund V, which was formed in 2020. According to its website, the company initially began making value-add industrial investments in 2006, focusing on the light industrial sector. To date, Berkeley Partners’ portfolio consists of 6 million square feet of light industrial real estate across the U.S.
The newly acquired Fife property is located near the Port of Tacoma, between Interstate-5 and State Road 509. In a primarily industrial area, the property is neighbored by various other industrial facilities, including Amazon, Americold Logistics, Quakers, Precision Machine Works, Inc. and more.
According to Pierce County, the Port of Tacoma is one of the largest industrial hubs in North America and is the 50th largest container hub in the world. Tacoma and its surrounding suburbs, in general, have seen tremendous growth in the industrial sector over the past year. According to a 2021 second quarter industrial market report from CBRE, Tacoma’s demand for industrial space continues to exceed its supply. As of the second quarter of the year, the Tacoma/Fife region reported 56.62 million square feet of total inventory, with a 7.2 percent availability rate. At the same time, the region reported a positive net absorption totaling 1.6 million square feet in the second quarter of 2021. Additionally, as of the second quarter of 2021, CBRE reported approximately 3.3 million square feet of industrial property currently under construction in the region.
