By Meghan Hall
The industrial asset class has proven to be the industry darling over the past year, with deals continuing to close right up until the end of 2020. In a transaction that closed on December 29th, an entity affiliated with Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management purchased an industrial asset in Auburn, Wash., for $21.2 million. The seller was Park 277 Holdings LLC, associated with Henry H. Ketcham Lumber Company.
The building is located at 5103 D Street NW and was originally constructed in 2008. According to data from CommercialCafe, the property totals 141,970 square feet and sits on just under 7 acres. The Class B building is classified as a multitenant warehouse and distribution facility.
The property is just off of State Route 167 and Is surrounded by a number of commercial buildings occupied by Ply Gem Windows, FedEx, Biagi Brothers and Gensco Inc.
As industrial assets and land for industrial product has been snapped up by investors throughout the region, potential buyers are looking south to markets such as Auburn to make their mark. Pierce and Thurston Counties, just outside of Auburn, account overall for just 30 percent of the Puget Sound’s industrial inventory, but saw 942,000 square feet of positive absorption during the third quarter of 2020. The two counties also account for 87 percent of the current development pipeline, where landlords and developers are building at a “frantic” pace, according to a recent report released by Colliers International.
Across the region, vacancy sits at 6.8 percent. Warehouse and shell facilities can garner anywhere between $0.50 per square foot in Thurston County to more than $1.20 per square foot in central Seattle. Colliers predicts that looking ahead, demand for industrial space will continue as a result of e-commerce companies who have remained strong throughout the pandemic.
