HFF Brokers 1.7 MSF Industrial Portfolio

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Irving-based Cobalt Capital Partners has placed a large industrial portfolio on the market — specifically, 15 distribution properties totaling 1.7 million square feet.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P, is marketing the portfolio, located in infill submarkets including DFW Airport, Northwest Dallas, Northeast Dallas and Inner Southwest Dallas. In an official statement, HFF reported that it expects the portfolio to attract bids of about $78 million, or $47 per square foot. Most of these buildings were completed in the 1980s.

Currently 95 percent leased, the 15 industrial properties are occupied by 31 tenants, with an average remaining lease term of nearly six years, according to HFF. Occupants specialize in a wide range of industries, among them, food products, aviation, paper distribution, construction material, corrugated cardboard, apparel and automotive.

Cobalt Capital Partners entities own more than 31 million square feet of light industrial space in 18 major metropolitan markets.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has been attracting a large number of industrial investors in recent months, which could be a big reason for placing such a large portfolio on the market. According to a report from CBRE Group Inc., the end of the fourth quarter of 2012 marked the second full year and nine consecutive months of positive absorption for DFW industrial inventory as market fundamentals continue to improve.

As illustrated in the chart at left, positive absorption of 3.4 million square feet brought the year-to-date total to 14 million square feet, making it the highest annual net absorption recorded in DFW since 2007.

Photo credits: Cobalt Capital Partners

Chart credits: CBRE Global Research and Consulting

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