Meridian Group Enters Logistics Segment with $150M Planned Development
By Keith Loria December 17, 2021 4:37 pm
reprints
The Meridian Group is entering the logistics space.
The Bethesda, Md.-based company, in partnership with Wickshire Industrial, has acquired an assemblage of three lots in Winchester, Va., and will develop One Logistics Park, which will feature up to 2.8 million square feet of distribution logistics space, the company said.
The $150 million, 277-acre development will also include more than 100,000 square feet of retail space in particular targeting gas service and quick-service restaurants.
The sellers are multiple parties, including JGR Three, Hockman Investments and Governor’s Hill. The total price was not disclosed.
The firm is expanding its investment strategy as the pandemic has accelerated a surge in e-commerce, driving a soaring demand for logistics space nationwide, particularly in port-centric markets like the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia area, the company said.
“We recognized that demand for warehouse space had accelerated during the pandemic,” Kyle Maurer, Meridian Group’s vice president of acquisitions, told Commercial Observer. “Given our experience as a developer, we wanted to continue to target land acquisitions in supply-constrained areas in the region that have superior demographics — such as affordable labor supply — along key logistics channels such as I-81.”
The development will offer convenient access to the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area via I-66 and I-70, with close proximity to the Virginia Inland Port.
The first phase of One Logistics Park will consist of 1.4 million square feet of industrial space spread across two facilities: a 1-million-square-foot building and a 360,000-square-foot building.
“Through a unique land assemblage, together with Wickshire Industrial, we will have a very attractive land basis compared to other recent trades in the area,” Maurer said. “There is extremely limited availability for any space greater than 500,000 square feet, leading to accelerated rent growth for new product.”
The developers will target e-commerce, retail, food and beverage, third-party logistics and manufacturing companies as possible tenants.
Colliers (CIGI) was the lone broker involved in the transaction.
The development will break ground in the first quarter of 2022 with delivery of the first project in the park in the second half of 2023.
Requests for comment from the sellers were not immediately returned.
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
