By Jack Stubbs
A roughly one million square foot office/industrial property containing three buildings recently changed hands. On Friday, January 5th, CRG, a St. Louis-based North American real estate developer, acquired the DuPont Corporate Center from Fortress Investment Group LLC, a leading global investment management firm headquartered in New York, for $60 million, according to public documents filed with the county.
CRG acquired the DuPont Corporate Center on behalf of a number of investors, according to a recent statement released by the company. At one point, Intel Corporation occupied the office component of the property, according to Google Maps.
The property is master planned as a 1.6 million square foot institutional quality business park on the former Intel campus in DuPont, Washington. Phase 1 of the development is designed to include a 750,200 square foot state-of-the-art distribution facility, which will be complemented by a 494,900 square foot distribution facility during phase two of the development.
“DuPont Corporate Center is an exciting opportunity for CRG to enhance its national industrial portfolio. We look forward to being a part of the City of DuPont and the Northwest Landing Community,” said CRG senior vice president Mike Wurtsbaugh in the statement. “The Puget Sound Region, and the I-5 Corridor from Seattle to Portland, is an e-commerce hotspot. The region continues to be one of the most consistent performers and most dynamic investment markets in the Country.”
Located at 2800-2980 Center Dr., the property today contains three buildings that total 1,048,782 square feet, according to documents filed with the county. The first structure, located at 2980 Center Dr., is a one-story 374,000 square foot industrial light manufacturing warehouse built in 1996. According to Google Maps, the space is currently occupied by Carlson Pet Products, Regalo International, and software company Alliance Enterprises, Inc.
The second and third buildings, located at 2800 Center Dr., are both 4-story Class B office building that each total 337,391 square feet. The buildings were constructed between 1996 and 1998.
A strategic regional logistics hub, DuPont Corporate Center is located in immediate proximity to Interstate 5, less than 20 minutes from the Port of Tacoma, within one hour of Seattle and two hours of Portland, Oregon. The campus also benefits from close proximity to DuPont’s core retail and housings which contribute to a strong labor pool, according to CRG’s statement.
“We are excited about the opportunity to leverage our team’s many years of local development experience in the market,” said CRG President Chris McKee in a statement. “Our plan is to leverage DuPont and our Portland projects to establish the Puget Sound Region as a key market in CRG’s national development strategy.”
Wilma Warshak, SIOR of Washington Real Estate Advisors (WAREA) will market the future development facilities for lease. Monte Decker of CBRE will market the existing property for lease. CBRE-National Partners represented the seller in sale of the property.
According to Kidder Mathews’ fourth quarter 2017 industrial market report, Pierce County continues to lead the way in both absorption and development and also has an abundance of available land. On the leasing side, the market achieved 1,789,202 square feet of positive net absorption in the fourth quarter and nearly 4.4 million square feet for the year, according to the report, which highlights DuPont, Sumner and Port of Tacoma/Fife as development hotspots in Pierce County. The report notes that, with absorption outpacing deliveries, the vacancy rate dropped from 3.46 percent to 2.35 percent.
CRG provides development services to develop, design, construct and deliver strategic initiatives to its clients, according to the company’s web site. The company’s portfolio spans the commercial, industrial and multifamily sectors, and includes aero-space, medical research facilities, warehouse/distribution centers and corporate headquarters, among other asset types.
With offices in Chicago, Sacramento, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Northern New Jersey, CRG has developed more than 5,000 acres of land and delivered more than 160 million square feet of commercial, industrial and multifamily assets exceeding $9 billion in value, according to the company’s web site.
Founded in 1998, Fortress Investment Group LLC is a global investment manager that has approximately $36.1 billion of assets under management as of September 30th, 2017, according to the company’s web site. The company manages assets on behalf of more than 1,750 institutional clients and private investors worldwide across real estate, private equity and capital investment strategies. The company’s Real Estate Loans & Equity teams focus on investing in distressed real estate loan acquisitions, opportunistic lending, REIT debt and commercial real estate structured products, according to its web site.
