VanTrust Real Estate LLC sold the Imeson Park building leased to Margo State Line on Dec. 23 to LBA Realty for $43.9 million.
The deed and a $43.9 million mortgage to LBA were recorded Jan. 20 with the Duval County Clerk of Courts.
VanTrust developed the 552,720-square-foot warehouse on 25.9 acres at 10501 Cold Storage Road, No. 100, in 2019. Imeson Park is in North Jacksonville.
VanTrust owned and sold the property through JI Imeson Industrial 552 LLC. LBA Realty, based in Irvine, California, bought it through 10501 Cold Storage Road LLC.
VanTrust is based in Kansas City, Missouri, and has an office in Jacksonville.
PGIM Real Estate Finance LLC of Dallas financed the deal. The mortgage and security agreement show the Jacksonville property was one of several LBA bought and financed, with the others out of state. The total mortgage was $216.41 million.
LBA is a real estate investment and management company.
Jacksonville-based Margo State Line signed a long-term lease for the 552,000-square-foot warehouse distribution center in Imeson Park.
“The growth profile has been great,” said Margo CFO Steve Morrill in an interview July 15.
Margo State Line, founded in 2005, imports and sells decorative pebbles, stones and rocks and other products to The Home Depot, Amazon.com, Walmart Inc., Lowe’s Companies Inc. and other retailers.
The pebbles are used in landscaping and have become more in demand online as homeowners are upgrading their properties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Margo State Line imports the pebbles in bulk and bags them for distribution.
Morrill said the Imeson Park location is convenient to the port. The rocks are imported from the Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Haiti, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Mexico.
Margo also sells pebbled floor tile, pottery, fire glass used in fire pits, and mulch, which was its initial product.