FRP Sells $347M Multi-State Industrial Portfolio

By Barbra Murray

6920 Tudsbury Road, Baltimore County, Md.

FRP Holdings’ portfolio is approximately 3.6 million square feet lighter, but the company’s pockets are $347.2 million heavier. The real estate firm recently completed the sale of 40 industrial properties and three land parcels in the Mid-Atlantic to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII LP. The closing of the transaction comes two months after FRP announced the sale agreement.

FRP had spent the last 30 years amassing the portfolio, but the company found good reason to part with the properties. “It is our belief that the combination of low but rising interest rates, the current low cap rates the industrial assets are going for and the enactment of the corporate tax reduction made this an opportunistic time for us to sell,” John Baker, CEO of FRP Holdings, said during the company’s first quarter 2018 earnings conference call on May 8, 2018.

The collection of warehouses, warehouse/office properties and land spans the states of Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, and consists of both single facilities and business parks. Among the long list of assets are the 86,100-square-foot facility at 6920 Tudsbury Road in Baltimore County and the four-building Patriot Business Park, featuring 476,500 square feet of warehouse/office space, in Prince William County, Va.

No idle hands

FRP plans to direct proceeds from the portfolio sale to its other business segments, which include mining and royalty lands. Projects on the company’s plate include the second phase of Riverfront on the Anacostia, an expansive mixed-use project along the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C.

“Though monumental, the sale of such a substantial portion of this company will not leave us wanting for things to do,” David deVilliers, president of FRP Holdings, said during the earnings call.

Image courtesy of FRP Holdings