Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT Buys Quaker Distribution Facility in 1031 Exchange Deal
Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT Inc., a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust, has purchased the Quaker Sales and Distribution facility in Lakeland, Florida.
Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT Inc., a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust, has purchased the Quaker Sales and Distribution facility in Lakeland, Florida for $59.60 million.
The Quaker Sales and Distribution facility is the second property to be acquired with 1031 exchange proceeds from the disposition of DreamWorks Animation’s Headquarters and Studio Campus, which the REIT sold in November 2017 for $290 million.
The REIT netted an 80 percent return from the DreamWorks property sale and acquired the LPL Financial Carolinas Corporate Campus in December 2017 for $130 million with 1031 exchange proceeds.
The Quaker Sales and Distribution facility is a single-story, 605,000-square-foot, Class A distribution warehouse leased in its entirety to Quaker Sales and Distribution Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc., for an initial term of 125 months, commencing on March 1, 2018 and expiring on July 31, 2028.
Completed in March 2018, the cross-docked distribution facility will serve as a regional distribution center for PepsiCo’s Gatorade products. The property also serves as a regional transportation hub for the southeastern United States.
“The asset meets our criteria of investing in income-generating properties leased to established corporate tenants on a long-term basis,” said Michael Escalante, Griffin Capital’s chief investment officer. “Given its strategic proximity to the tenant’s manufacturing facilities in Tampa and Kissimmee, Florida, its critical operational role and long-dated triple-net lease, the acquisition is consistent with the REIT’s investing objectives.”
In addition to its location, the building includes a 36-foot clear height with 120 dock doors and four drive-in doors, 154 on-site trailer storage spaces, and 130-foot truck courts with 60-foot concrete loading areas. There is also the possibility to accommodate the tenant’s future growth via land for a 120,000-square-foot expansion.
Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT oversees a portfolio of 73 office and industrial properties purchased for a total of $3.2 billion. The company’s initial public offering was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2009. The REIT closed its follow-on offering in April 2014 after raising a total of approximately $1.5 billion in investor equity, according to Summit Investment Research.
