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Philly-Area Industrial Portfolio Trades for $195M
Three years after acquiring it amid the pandemic, Wharton Industrial, a platform company of New York City-based Wharton Equity Partners, and its joint venture partner, Walton Street Capital, have sold Twinbridge Industrial Park, a 37-asset, 1.3-million-square-foot portfolio in Pennsauken, NJ, 15 minutes from Center City Philadelphia.
The price was $194.5 million and is one of the largest industrial transactions in New Jersey this year. The buyer was an affiliate of DRA Advisors, headquartered in New York City.
In common with another recent Philadelphia-area success by the JV–repositioning a derelict former subway car repair facility, leasing it to Amazon and ultimately selling it at a 200%-plus IRR–Twinbridge was overlooked by the local investment community in mid-2020.
“With over 50 tenants at Twinbridge, there was legitimate concern as to the sustainability of the tenancy,” said Peter C. Lewis, founder and chairman of Wharton Industrial.
“Despite others who were fearful of investing at that time, we saw the portfolio as prime real estate that we believed would weather economic uncertainties,” Lewis continued. “Our intuition was greatly rewarded, with rents increasing more than 100% during our three-year hold, through strategic property improvements and extensive leasing management.”
Regarding the disposition of the property, Lewis said, “We would not only like to thank our long-term partner, Walton Street, but also the CBRE team of Brad Ruppel, Mike Hines and Liam Fahey, as well as Marc Isdaner and Ian Richman from Colliers, who collectively provided us with superior representation on the sale.”
- ◦Sale/Acquisition
