By Jack Stubbs
Following shortly after Newport Beach, CA-based BKM Capital Partners’ recent acquisition of the 19-building West Valley Business Park in Kent, another industrial property in the King County city changed hands.
On October 2nd, in a transaction that was recently recorded, Priest Point Properties LLC based in Seattle spent $15.9 million to acquire a two-building warehouse/distribution property, King County records show. The seller was Food Services of America Inc., a company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.
The subject property is comprised of two warehouse/storage buildings located at 18430 East Valley Hwy S. that total just under 257,800 square feet and sit on roughly eighteen acres, according to public documents—the first structure totals 248,400 and was built in 1982, while the second is a 9,400 square foot storage/service garage.
The property, which according to Google Maps is currently occupied by Food Services of America, is roughly four miles north of downtown Kent via state Route 167 and about three miles south of Renton. The two buildings also sit just south of the Valley Medical Center and are located in close proximity to several other supplier and distribution companies including The Home Depot Distribution Center, JDS Industries, and Western Van and Storage.
In early October, BKM Capital Partners, a fund manager that acquires and improves light industrial properties throughout the Western U.S., spent $30.5 million to acquire the West Valley Business Park, an industrial campus totaling approximately 210,000 square feet and located at 6601 S. 190th St. and 19200 66th Ave. S.
The Kent Valley, ranging from from Kent to Puyallup continues to see attract investor interest, with steady employment growth and the expansion of e-commerce companies just a couple of factors driving demand in the area.
The last few weeks have marked an active period for the submarket, with several properties having traded hands. In early August—several weeks on from another mid-June acquisition of a 102,000 square foot warehouse property in Kent— Denver, Colorado-based Black Creek Group purchased a 63,000 square foot warehouse/distribution facility located at 19027 72nd Ave. S. for just under $10 million, according to The Registry’s reporting.
In late August, Boston-based TA Realty purchased two industrial parks in southern King County—the Pacific West Business Center in Kent and the White River Corporate Park in Auburn—for a combined $22 million in a sale arranged by Colliers International’s Industrial office.