By Joshua Burd
Wharton Industrial has acquired a nearly 190,000-square-foot warehouse in Camden County, in one of two newly announced deals by the real estate investment firm.
The operator, a platform of Wharton Equity Partners, completed the transactions alongside an institutional partner. The purchases include 9130 Griffith Morgan Lane in Pennsauken, a 189,498-square-foot property built in 1980 and renovated in 2020.
Wharton noted the building has 24-foot ceiling heights, 18 loading positions and one drive-in door, but has knockout panels to add up to 10 loading doors, which it plans to do as part of a future capital improvement program. Other features resulting from the recent renovation include a new roof, solar panels and air conditioning added by the building’s tenant.
The firm added that the fully occupied building is just off Route 73, offering easy access to Philadelphia via the Betsy Ross Bridge, Walt Whitman Bridge and Benjamin Franklin Bridge. It’s also within minutes of Wharton Industrial’s 1.3 million-square foot, 35-building Twinbridge Industrial Park in the township, which it acquired two years ago with Walton Street Capital.
Colliers’ Marc Isdaner and Ian Richman brokered the most recent sale, the terms of which were not disclosed.
In the second deal, in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, the joint venture purchased a 135,900-square-foot facility at 5 East Pointe Drive as part of a sale-leaseback, according to a news release. Wharton Industrial noted that the property was constructed in 2005 and has parking for more than 50 trailers and 300 cars, along with two loading docks, 16 drive-in doors, LED lighting and abundant power.
At the end of the leaseback period in two years, Wharton will launch an extensive renovation to enhance site circulation, increase loading positions and upgrade the warehouse interior to market the space to logistics and manufacturing users in suburban Philadelphia and Central Pennsylvania, the news release said. The firm noted that Birdsboro sits at the confluence of Interstate 176 and Route 422, about 30 miles from the Lehigh Valley, 50 miles from Center City Philadelphia and 60 miles from Harrisburg.
Nick Adams and Harry McKenna of Jackson Cross Partners brokered the deal.
“We are delighted to have added these properties to our stable of infill warehouses we continue to assemble in southern New Jersey and central Pennsylvania,” said Peter C. Lewis, chairman of Wharton Industrial. “While we are surely cognizant of the current macroeconomic environment, we maintain our strong, long-term belief in this region and are unwavering in our appetite to acquire great properties, irrespective of temporary market conditions.”
