Cushman & Wakefield Tapped to Market Properties Once Slated for Detention Centers

The Trump administration is working with Cushman & Wakefield to offload seven industrial sites it had planned to convert to immigrant detention centers.

Along with the U.S. General Services Administration, the administration will be working with C&W to find buyers for the vacant warehouses to claw back some of the $706.8 million it paid for the seven properties earlier this year, Green Street News reported late Tuesday.

The federal government originally paid an average of $134 per square foot for the 5.3 million-square-foot portfolio. The federal government is taking bids starting at $114 per square foot, or $600 million, for the seven sites, representing a roughly 15 percent discount. The facilities are in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Utah, Texas and Michigan.

The asking price is below market value, with the national average price for industrial space at $138 per square foot in September, according to a report from CommercialCafe.

The GSA and C&W did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

One of the properties listed by Green Street was the Ritner Logistics Center at 3501 Mountain Road in Upper Bern, Pa., which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bought from commercial real estate lender PCCP in February for $87.4 million, or $169 per square foot.

At the time, DHS planned to detain 1,500 immigrants at the facility.

During the January and February buying blitz, ICE also purchased a total of 11 warehouses for about $1 billion, but many of the plans for detention centers modeled after Alligator Alcatraz, Louisiana Lockup, Cornhusker Clink and Speedway Slammer were scrapped due to local political opposition.

GSA had helped arrange the acquisitions, with ICE requesting that facilities have secure entryway systems, interlocking doors, and be located no more than 10 miles from the nearest Enforcement and Removal Operations facility.

Properties in the portfolio also include 6020 West 300 South in Salt Lake City, 1365 East Hightower Trail in Social Circle, Ga., the Eastwind Logistics Center in Socorro, Texas, 50 Rausch Creek Road in Tremont, Pa., 6505 Atlanta Highway in Flowery Branch, Ga., and 7525 Cogswell Street in Romulus, Mich. 

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.