6 Terri Lane in Burlington Township — Courtesy: Aspen Real Estate
By Joshua Burd
Private equity firm Aspen Real Estate has acquired nearly 83,000 square feet of industrial and office space at the junction of two key thoroughfares in Burlington Township.
The portfolio, which is just off Interstate 295 and County Route 541, includes a 57,600-square-foot building at 6 Terri Lane that was developed for warehousing but has been rented in recent years as office space. The Freehold-based firm said it plans to vacate the current tenants and return the property to its original use, adding that it’s now offering the facility for sale.
The second building, located at 2 Terri Lane, is a 25,000-square-foot office building that was 65 percent leased at the time of closing, according to Aspen. The firm said it has already drafted a lease for half of the vacant space and will bring the property back to market after signing the new commitment.
Aspen acquired the portfolio via TenX, the online auction platform, noting that Jacklene Chesler of Colliers managed the sale on behalf of Rialto. In a news release, the firm said the purchase involved the assumption of a defaulted commercial mortgage-backed security loan, while the special servicer arranged for the firm to assume the existing debt with a 4.9 percent interest rate, allowing the seller to achieve a significantly higher sale price and recover unpaid interest.
The assumed debt came to 82 percent of the purchase price, Aspen said. Philip Proetto, the firm’s CEO, added that deal is the fourth that it has completed using an auction platform, with three of the properties involving defaulted mortgages.
“In the current lending environment, financing the purchase of distressed property with defaulted debt is very limited,” Aspen said in the news release. “Many lenders have completely stopped lending on commercial real estate. This newly tested sales model may become more common as lenders realize they can achieve more value by having a loan assumed by a strong, experienced, well-capitalized buyer.”
