Tight industrial market boosts value of Westbrook building
Courtesy / Harnden Commercial Brokers
The 126,072-square-foot industrial building 5 Bradley Drive in Westbrook sold over asking price for $8.75 million and immediately found a tenant in Abbott Laboratories.
A Boston real estate investor bought a 126,072-square-foot industrial building in Westbrook for $8.75 million, $250,000 above asking price, and immediately found a tenant when Abbott Laboratories leased the entire building as part of an expansion to ramp up production of its rapid test for COVID-19.
Abbott is headquartered in Illinois and has a production facility in Scarborough. The 5 Bradley Drive lease was one of two transactions Abbott Laboratories completed as part of its expansion. Abbott leased another 68,818 square feet and 16 acres at 7 Manson Libby Road in Scarborough.
Calare Properties Inc. bought 5 Bradley Drive in Westbrook from Maine Olympia Properties LLC in a deal that closed May 7.
Jim Harnden of Harnden Commercial Brokers and John Meador of the Boulos Co. brokered the deal.
The property sits on 14.72 acres and has approvals in place for an expansion of approximately 80,000 square feet.
Built in 1998 for Bindley Western Industries, a wholesale distributor of pharmaceuticals that was subsequently acquired by Cardinal Health, the property boasts 30-foot clear height, 40-foot by 50-foot column spacing, an early suppression, fast response sprinkler system and heated and cooled warehouse space, according to Boulos.
The industrial market is tight and Calare realized the value of the property, Meador, who represented the buyer, said.
The building had some of the only vacant space in the southern Maine’s industrial market, which consists of 19 million square feet with approximately 500,000 square feet of industrial demand at the time of the sale, as reported by Boulos.
It is Calare's first acquisition in Maine, said Meador. Calare was founded in 2003 and is focused on acquiring and managing warehouse, manufacturing, research and flex/office assets, primarily in the Northeast. Calare has led the acquisition of over 18.5 million square feet of properties, representing $850 million in real estate transactions through funds, direct deals and a multi-asset portfolio.
First time in Maine
While this is Calare’s first acquisition in Maine, Meador told Mainebiz he had a prior relationship with the company through his commercial real estate activities in Boston.
“They’ve been circling the Maine market over the last couple of years,” he said.
Parameters included industrial or flex properties in top condition that could be leased to high-end companies.
“Demand has increased in that world the past couple of years, and particularly in the last year,” he said. “There’s only so many in our industrial market. Most of the Southern Maine market is user-built and -occupied.”
Meador called the Westbrook building one of the top three of its type in Maine.
“They found this building and jumped on it late last year,” he added.
Tenant interest high
A raft of potential tenants appeared even before the transaction was completed, he noted.
“Even during due diligence, there were multiple tenants interested in leasing the entire facility,” he said. “Calare was looking for a tenant that valued clear height, location and loading dock ratio, and was seeking a high-end warehouse in Maine.”
Greg Boulos and Samantha Marinko of the Boulos Co. handled leasing arrangements for Abbott.
“There’s a lot of action going on,” Boulos said in the release. “As tough as times are, deals are getting done, and market trends are encouraging. It’s not all bad news.”
Attention-getter
Harnden, who represented the seller, listed the property last December and garnered attention from investors and users.
Ultimately, Calare beat out multiple parties for the purchase.
The property was previously occupied by Olympia Sports, a Maine-based sporting goods retailer that was acquired by JackRabbit, a Denver, Colo.-based sports retailer, last October.
Olympia bought the Westbrook property in 2004 and added two stories of 7,500 square feet each as office space inside the warehouse. In the mid-2000s, Harnden said, Olympia received city approvals to add 80,000 square feet of more warehouse space but never built it.
The property’s top condition, was demonstrated by the sale price: It was originally listed at $8.5 million but received offers above the asking price, including Calare’s. Interest came from Maine and out-of-state, he added.
“There’s just not a lot of product like it,” said Harnden.
The building was Olympia’s central office and distribution center.
Olympia was founded in 1975 by Harden’s father-in-law, Ed Manganello Sr., with a single shop at the Maine Mall in South Portland
The company grew dramatically since then, at one time operating over 200 branches from Maine to Virginia.
Meador noted that the uncertainty of the times means underwriting for certain product types has become more difficult. But interest in southern and central Maine industrial product, with institutional specifications like those seen at 5 Bradley, has never been stronger, he said.
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