AUSTIN – (Realty News Report) – An Amazon last-mile distribution facility in Austin has been sold to Four Springs Capital Trust, a real estate investment trust based in Lake Como, New Jersey.
Last-mile distribution centers are designed to be close to residential neighborhoods and act as the final staging point before packages are delivered to customers’ doorsteps. These facilities are generally smaller than Amazon’s large fulfillment centers, which can approach 1 million square feet. Amazon’s footprint expanded considerably during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mohr Capital, a privately held Dallas-based real estate investment firm, was the seller of the Amazon-occupied property, known as MetCenter Building III.
The 160,000-square-foot warehouse and logistics building is located at 7000 Metropolis Drive in Austin’s Southeast industrial submarket. The property is fully leased to Amazon.com Services LLC and functions as the company’s primary last-mile distribution center for the Austin metropolitan area. The sale also includes an adjacent 20-acre parking lot that is currently leased by Amazon.
“After more than a year of owning the facility and the departure of one of its occupants, we worked closely with Amazon in 2020 and early 2021 to allow the company to exercise its right of first offer to fully occupy the building through 2031. While our intention was always to hold this asset long-term, Four Springs’ off-market offer was very compelling. The extended lease term, the tenant’s credit quality, strong industrial market fundamentals and the excellent relationship we have with Four Springs made this deal possible,” said Rodrigo Godoi, managing director of investments for Mohr Capital.
Mohr Capital acquired MetCenter Building III in 2019 as part of a 404,800-square-foot portfolio purchase from Zydeco Development. At that time the portfolio included MetCenter Building III—then occupied by both Amazon and Uber Advanced Technologies—along with a four-building, 244,800-square-foot office complex leased to tenants in technology, government and healthcare sectors.
“This transaction highlights Mohr Capital’s ability to deliver attractive, risk-adjusted returns on its investments,” said Bob Mohr, chairman of Mohr Capital. “While the strength of the industrial market and the shift toward high-quality assets during the pandemic certainly played a role, our decades of investment, asset management and corporate leasing experience were also key. We’re pleased with the outcome and look forward to the new opportunities this sale will create for our firm.”
The property sits within MetCenter, a 550-acre Class A mixed-use business park located just ten minutes from downtown Austin and adjacent to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The site offers immediate access to major regional thoroughfares, including Highway 183, U.S. 290, Highway 130, Highway 71 and Interstate 35.
Rodrigo Godoi and William Dioguardi, CEO of Four Springs Capital Trust, negotiated the transaction.
June 2, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
Photo: Courtesy Mohr Capital
For more about Texas development, see the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins. Available on Amazon.
File: Austin. Amazon Warehouse Sold to REIT