Atlanta- and Boston-based investors paid almost $89 million for 11 properties in Imeson International Industrial Park over the past two weeks.
Webb International Inc. President Dan Webb said Wednesday company-managed entities retained about 500 acres at the North Jacksonville business park for development.
Company-related entities sold the properties. Webb said it was a good time to monetize them.
“Capitalization rates are near their historic lows and there was liquidity in the marketplace, so we thought it was a good time to do it,” Webb said Thursday.
MDH Partners LLC of Atlanta, through two entities, bought seven buildings for almost $54.6 million.
They total more than 1.3 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space.
Boston-based STAG Industrial Holdings LLC paid $34.3 million for seven buildings comprising more than 1 million square feet.
STAG Vice President Greg Johnson, who handles acquisitions in the Southeast, said Friday the company has a relationship with MDH Partners and "always saw opportunities" in Jacksonville. The Imeson acquisition was its first in the area.
More Jacksonville investment appears possible. Johnson said STAG is an opportunist investor and will consider purchases as opportunities present themselves.
As a public company, he said STAG was limited in what it can discuss until its earnings release. It will release its fourth-quarter 2016 operating and financial results after the market closes Feb. 16 and will host its quarterly earnings conference call Feb. 17.
Property and court records show the 11 Jacksonville deeds, recorded Wednesday with the Duval County Clerk of Courts, encompass 14 buildings and total $88.9 million.
Most of the deeds were executed Jan. 17, with one made Jan. 12. Four were made to STAG and seven to MDH Partners entities.
MDH Partners CEO Jeffrey Small Jr. said Thursday his group had all of the properties under contract but that STAG bought four and MDH bought the rest.
“Jacksonville is a market that we targeted because we see a lot of potential for growth,” Small said.
Continued e-commerce growth makes the location off Interstate 95 attractive to service North Florida and South Georgia, he said.
Nearby Blount Island and Talleyrand Marine Terminal port traffic brings in cargo and automobiles, which he said will continue to grow.
Small said MDH Partners hired JLL Vice President Luke Pope to handle leasing for the properties, which are about 75 percent occupied.
As a value-add buyer, Small said MDH Partners acquires properties with the potential for investment.
Webb said the Jacksonville properties were among a portfolio in Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami sold to MDH Partners. He said the overall transaction included 4.3 million square feet.
Small declined to disclose the purchase price of the buildings.
Webb International started developing the industrial park, a former airport north of Heckscher Drive and east of North Main Street, about 1970.
Webb, based at the Orlando headquarters, said Imeson International Industrial Park is about 1,200 acres.
Street addresses for the sold properties include Canada Drive, Gun Club Road, Whittaker Road, Busch Drive, Zoo Parkway and Parker Avenue. The warehouses were built from 1972 to 2011.
Records show the purchased Jacksonville properties encompass almost 113 acres and are assessed for tax purposes at $52.9 million.
Other companies also own property at the park, Webb said.
Webb said he was sentimental about the sale, “but we still own the vacant property at Imeson and our plans are to build some new product there.”
His father, William C. Webb, started in the development business in the early 1950s. Dan Webb, the second son, has managed the Orlando and Jacksonville properties since the 1980s.
Imeson International Industrial Park Inc. is led by Dan Webb and his brother, William C. Webb Jr.
MDH Partners is a real estate investment company with more than 8 million square feet of properties in seven states from Virginia to Florida.
The company’s website said it was founded in 2005. It reports it has acquired and developed more than 10 million square feet and participated in more than $2 billion of transactions as an adviser and investor, with capital partners such as the Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo Real Estate.
Its website says the company wants to double its size over the next two years through the acquisition and development of industrial facilities through the Southeast.
STAG Industrial Inc. is a real estate investment trust that acquires, owns and manages single-tenant, industrial real estate assets throughout the United States.
As of Jan. 17, the company’s portfolio consisted of 294 properties in 37 states with about 57 million of rentable square feet, according to its website.
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