El Paso Industrial Portfolio Sold, Market briefs

Covington Group project in El Paso.

EL PASO, Texas – Affliates of Dallas-based Covington Group Inc. purchased the 548,629-square-foot Butterfield Trail portfolio in El Paso. Covington Group is already in progress with a multi-million dollar capital improvement project for the six-building industrial portfolio. Covington Group purchased the portfolio from Butterfield Trail Trust.

Covington Group has hired Christian Perez Giese and Chad McCleskey, with CBRE’s El Paso office, as the portfolio’s leasing agents.

The portfolio, made up of warehouse and flex buildings, was 69 percent occupied at the time of purchase. The most significant capital improvements are in progress at 19 Leigh Fisher, where there is a 120,000-square-foot vacancy. These capital improvements include a white box inside the warehouse area, new exterior and interior lighting, exterior paint and landscaping, as well as removal of a former tenant’s manufacturing infrastructure and overall deferred maintenance to the property. Covington expects to complete improvements to the entire portfolio by this summer.

“This purchase aligns perfectly with Covington’s value-add program that we have successfully implemented in markets across the U.S.,” said Ken Sheer, President and CEO of Covington.

“The Covington purchase of the Butterfield Trail portfolio is yet another investor making a strategic move into the El Paso industrial marketplace and specifically shows the continued resurgence of the Butterfield Trail submarket,” said Perez Giese, Senior Vice President and Director of CBRE’s El Paso/Ciudad Juárez office.

McCleskey added that “El Paso vacancy has improved from a recession low of 22 percent to 10 percent today. There have been several key leasing and investment sales in the park in the past twelve months and the fundamentals continue to improve.”

June 13, 2016