RICHMOND — A huge industrial center in the East Bay has been bought for more than $100 million in a deal that shows investors still hunger for some types of commercial properties despite the sector’s woes.
The three buildings are part of the Pinole Point Business Park at the corner of Giant Highway and Atlas Road in Richmond.
Minnesota-based WPT Capital Advisors, acting through separate affiliates, paid a combined $132.5 million for the three industrial and logistics buildings, according to documents filed on Oct. 24 with the Contra Costa County Recorder’s Office.
One potential big draw for the buyer in the deal: A delivery partner for e-commerce behemoth Amazon leases one of the three buildings that were bought through the deal.
Despite the deal, however, some signs are emerging that suggest the economic malaise that has infected the Bay Area’s office, retail and hotel markets also can afflict the relatively healthy industrial and logistics sectors in the nine-county region.
Here are the details of the purchases of the three Giant Highway buildings, which total a combined 724,100 square feet. The prices were filed with the Recorder’s Office.
— 6015 Giant Highway, 224,200 square feet, bought for $67.5 million. G Logistics, which is an Amazon delivery partner, is the tenant, according to Google Maps.
— 6015 Giant Highway, 476,500 square feet, was bought for $54 million. Google Maps doesn’t show a business operating at this location.
— 6025 Giant Highway, 41,400 square feet, was bought for $11 million. No businesses are shown to be operating at the site.
By happenstance, Amazon operates a fulfillment center across the street in a building that wasn’t involved in the property purchase. Separately, Whole Foods operates a distribution center in another building nearby that wasn’t part of the real estate deal.
Minneapolis-based WPT Capital is a real estate firm whose specialty is developing and owning industrial and logistics buildings in the western United States, according to the company’s website.
Real estate investors appear to be interested in this section of Richmond, property documents show.
ln July 2024, Santa Monica-based GLP Capital Partners paid a combined $129 million for three buildings at 2100, 2500 and 2900 Atlas Road in Richmond. Those buildings totaled a combined 474,800 square feet.
This recent deal and the one that occurred during the summer hint that even though investors remain interested in the Bay Area industrial market, values may be fading a bit for the sector.
The July 2024 deal on Atlas Road was completed at a price of $272 a square foot.
The most recent transaction on Giant Highway equated to a price of $183 a square foot. That’s a decline of 33% in value over a period of months.
The six buildings in the two deals are similar to each other and cater to the same types of tenants, even if their sizes vary somewhat.
