Wharton Industrial JV Sells $195M Greater Philadelphia Portfolio

Twinbridge Center. Image courtesy of Wharton Industrial

Wharton Industrial, a platform company of Wharton Equity Partners, along with joint venture partner Walton Street Capital, have sold a 1.3 million-square-foot industrial portfolio in the Philadelphia area. An affiliate of DRA Advisors purchased the 37-asset collection for $194.5 million.

The portfolio, Twinbridge Industrial Park, also known as the Twinbridge Center, is located in Pennsauken, N.J., in proximity to Center City Philadelphia.

Twinbridge Industrial Park houses more than 50 companies. Some of the center’s tenants include Lennox, Nestle Waters, Cooper Electric, PepsiCo, Krannich and KONE. The majority of the properties are fully leased.

Buildings within Twinbridge Industrial Park range in size from less than 10,000 square feet to more than 75,000 square feet. Assets offer amenities such as drive-in dock doors and clear heights of as much as 24 feet.

Tenants are in proximity to dining, entertainment and retail opportunities in Center City Philadelphia, as well as throughout Camden County. Route 73 and U.S. Route 130 offer access to the larger New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas, while connecting the property to greater northeastern distribution routes.

Throughout the seller’s three-year ownership of the industrial portfolio, rents increased more than 100 percent. Approximately 80 percent internal rate of return was achieved by the sellers in the deal.

The sale marks one of New Jersey’s largest industrial deals so far in 2023.

CBRE’s Brad Ruppel, Mike Hines and Liam Fahey and Colliers‘ Marc Isdaner and Ian Richman represented the sellers in the transaction.

PGIM Real Estate provided DRA Advisors $103 million in fixed-rate financing for the acquisition. Tom Goodsite, managing director at PGIM, led the financing.

Philadelphia industrial boom

In 2022, the Greater Philadelphia area saw the most active industrial market in the Northeast, CommercialEdge data shows. As of the end of November last year, some 21.5 million square feet of space were under construction, demonstrating the market’s strong continued industrial demand.

Throughout the first half of this year, many companies have been expanding their Philadelphia industrial footprint. Dermody Properties recently purchased a 214,271-square-foot development in Woolwich Township, N.J. Hines also notably completed the purchase of a 501,600-square-foot property in Covington Township, Pa.