By Jack Stubbs
The South King County industrial market—in particular the Kent Valley area, which ranges from the city of Kent to Puyallup further south—has seen an active three quarters this year, and another industrial property recently changed hands.
A few weeks on from it’s mid-June acquisition of a 101,890 square foot warehouse building in Kent for $16 million, or about $157 per square foot, Denver, Colorado-based Black Creek Group on August 2nd purchased another warehouse building for $9.8 million, or roughly $155 per square foot, King County records show. The seller of the property was Shah Asset Management, an entity based in Seattle.
The subject property, located at 19027 72nd Ave. S. roughly four miles north of downtown Kent, is a 63,000 square foot warehouse/distribution property that was constructed in 1978, according to the property listing on loopnet.com. It is not entirely clear how much space is currently available in the building. According to Google Maps, some of the current tenants include Regalo International and Shah Safari Inc.
The asset is approximately five miles south of Renton and six miles southeast of Sea-Tac Airport, and is also about six miles from access to the intersection of I-5 and I-405.
Since the early 1990s, Black Creek Group has owned and operated approximately 1,400 office, industrial, retail and multifamily properties across North America, and has developed more than $3 billion worth of properties.
On the industrial side, the company has acquired and operated more than $11 billion of industrial distribution facilities totaling more than 185 million square feet across its West Coast portfolio.
Black Creek Group’s Puget Sound region portfolio includes the Tacoma Logistics Center, a 1.1 million square foot speculative development project—comprised of two Class A warehouse/distribution buildings—located on a 58-acre parcel within the Port of Tacoma.
The city of Kent continues to garner interest from investors and developers alike, with various industrial properties having sold over the last couple of quarters. In early May, San Francisco-based Lift Partners acquired a 113,591 square foot office/warehouse building—located at 22441 76th Ave. S.—for $16.5 million, or about $145 per square foot, from Federal Way-based R&M Investments LLC.
In early February, LBA Realty—a company that operates a wide range of office and industrial properties in cities across the Western U.S. including Seattle and San Francisco—spent $12.7 million, or about $129 per square foot, to acquire a 98,700 square foot warehouse located at 7901 S. 190th St.
