Portfolios top a strong year for 2024 industrial market

There was a clear winner in this year’s industrial market.

EQT Exeter, a global firm investing in the Twin Cities market for the first time, bought Prologis’ portfolio in May, effectively shutting down competition for the highwater mark for industrial properties with over six months left in the year.

While the sale was an outlier in many senses, it represents the increased portfolio transaction activity. Only two portfolios made their way into the top eight transactions to happen in 2022. This year, that number doubled, which may seem insignificant, but the amount of cash being put into the properties paints a different picture.

Here’s a gander into 2024’s top industrial transactions throughout the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.

Portfolios

Prologis Portfolio deal

Locations: Brooklyn Park, Eagan, Hopkins, Maple Grove, Otsego and Shakopee

Purchase Price: Over $450 million

Size: 25 buildings, over 4 million square feet of space

Month of sale: May

Buyer: EQT-Exeter

Seller: Prologis

Not only is this deal one of the top in the state, but it is likely among the top transactions in the entire nation, according to the of the brokers who arranged the deal. CBRE’s Bentley Smith said in an interview in July that Exeter looks for a critical mass when entering the market, which is something they felt the deal offered. This sale started a love affair between Exeter and the Twin Cities industrial market, with the global investor coming back twice more in 2024 to buy up five more warehouses.

Link Logistics Portfolio

Locations: Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Eden Prairie, Mendota Heights, Plymouth and Shakopee

Purchase Price: $130.2 million

Size: 12 properties

Month of sale: October

Buyer: Centaur Capital Partners

Seller: Link Logistics

Description: In a sale that spanned three counties in the metro, Link Logistics unloaded its portfolio, dropping warehouses in markets like Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Plymouth and Shakopee. Link was started in 2019 as an arm of the Blackstone, an investment management company, and its portfolio was bought by Centaur, a company founded by a former Blackstone partner.

Blaine Artis Warehouses Deal

Addresses: 8611, 8700 and 8650 35W Service Drive NE in Blaine

Purchase Price: $45.7 million

Size: Three properties; 417,400 square feet

Month of sale: August

Buyer: EQT-Exeter

Seller: Artis REIT

Description: These three buildings in Blaine were the second part of a trilogy of investments made in 2024 by Exeter, with the final investment being a two-property purchase in Maple Grove and Savage, respectively. All three buildings are relatively new and are in the hot market of Blaine right next to Interstate 35W. Artis REIT has been on a disposition strategy for two years now according to one expert, having sold a large chunk of its Twin Cities portfolio to the metro-based Capital Partners.

Golden Triangle Portfolio

Locations: 6925-6953 Washington Ave. S. and 6955-6973 Washington Ave. S. in Edina, and 6820-6848 Washington Ave. S., 7150-7174 Shady Oak Road, 7115-7149 Shady Oak Road, 7202-7224 Washington Ave. S., 7242-7264 Washington Ave. S. and 7340 Washington Ave. S. in Eden Prairie

Purchase Price: $30.33 million

Size: Eight buildings; 309,095 square feet

Month of Sale: November

Buyer: Big River Real Estate

Seller: Gonyea Commercial Properties

Description: Probably some of the oldest properties on this list, the youngest building in this portfolio was built in 1983, the same year the film “Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi” was released. The price-per-square-foot works out to around $98. The location of the portfolio was a strong pull for the property, with CBRE’s Smith telling F&C at the time that the portfolio received 22 first-round offers. Big River Real Estate’s CEO told Finance & Commerce the portfolio is in the group’s fourth private equity real estate fund.

Individual Sales

Home Depot Distribution Center

Address: 15401 Boulder Ave. in Rosemount

Purchase Price: $70.15 million

Size: 417,600 square feet

Month of sale: November

Buyer: Eaton Vance

Seller: Seefried Industrial Properties

Description: It’s not every day that you get a warehouse for sale that has a tenant with an 18-year lease. But that’s the case for a distribution center in Rosemount, which sold for just shy of $168 per square foot, one of the higher ratios of price to square foot seen in the market this year. CBRE’s Judd Welliver said at the time that lease, outdoor storage and proximity to railroads were the key drivers to the property.

Arbor Lakes Endeavor Buildings

Address:

Purchase Price: $66.5 million

Size: two buildings, 443,000 square feet

Month of sale: December

Buyer: LaSalle Investment Management

Seller: Endeavor Development

Description:  JLL’s investment subsidiary LaSalle Investment Management outbid 11 other investors for 440,000 square feet of warehouse in what was described by JLL senior managing director Dave Berglund as one of the “premier industrial developments.” Both warehouses were built by the Edina-based Endeavor, which has been on something of a selling spree this year.

Lakeville Logistics Center

Address: 21601 Galway Lane, Lakeville

Purchase Price: $43.1 million

Size: 360,000

Month of sale: October

Buyer: Stag Industrial

Seller: Oppidan

Description: The Lakeville Logistics Center is one of the newest properties to make this list, as the site was finished in June of this year before selling in October. Core Resources and Sweet Harvest Foods occupy this warehouse marketed by CBRE’s Welliver and Smith. Ultimately, it was purchased by Stag, which already has around 20 properties in its portfolio for the Twin Cities.

Lino Lakes warehouse

Address: 6870 21st Ave. S., Lino Lakes

Purchase Price: $30.8 million

Size: 404,300 square feet

Month of sale: November

Buyer: Trive Capital

Seller: Onward Investors

Description: This 2016-built warehouse brought Trive Capital into the Twin Cities market, with the company assuming Onward’s mortgage (complete with an interest rate of 5.2%). CBRE’s Welliver said in a November interview that Onward was looking to reevaluate where it was putting its capital. December would then see Onward become one of the three investors buying the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Minneapolis.

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