Security Capital Industrial Trust has completed the purchase of nine warehouse buildings and land in Prince George's County as part of a $37 million acquisition, sources close to the transaction said yesterday.
In a sale completed earlier this week, the Denver-based real estate investment trust acquired 12 buildings totaling 828,000 square feet, plus 32 acres of land where it will develop an additional 450,000 square feet. Three of the buildings are in Alexandria, Va.
"All of the buildings are well-designed, well-conceived properties with a Beltway orientation," said Peregrine Roberts, an associate senior vice president of the Carey Winston Co., who negotiated the transaction with Carey Winston agents David Welch and Ken Marks.
The sale is the largest involving industrial property in the Baltimore-Washington region since August 1991, when the Svatos Co. paid $52 million for buildings and 365 acres in Anne Arundel and Howard counties owned by Parkway Cos.
Carey Winston cited the intense regional demand for industrial space as the driving force behind the Security Capital deal. To that end, the real estate investment trust has begun construction of a 121,000-square-foot, speculative bulk warehouse in the newly acquired, 32-acre Hampton Central Industrial Park in Capitol Heights. The company also has plans for three additional buildings, totaling 329,000 square feet, on the land.
Neither Mr. Roberts nor Security Capital officials would confirm that the investment trust is the buyer. The company declined to comment, citing U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission regulations. Earlier this month, it filed to sell $200 million worth of notes.
The purchase is the first in this region by the nation's largest publicly-held owner of industrial real estate. Through Dec. 1, Security Capital's portfolio contained 30 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in 28 markets, valued at $849.5 million. The company also has contracted to acquire $351 million worth of additional projects and has plans to develop $118 million worth of projects in 1994, according to the SEC filing.
Security Capital went public in March, raising $37.4 million. Before that offering, it had generated $397.5 million through a private placement. In October, the company raised $271 million more through a secondary stock sale.