Ponte Vedra Beach-based developer InLight Real Estate Partners deeded its 39.3-acre Commonwealth Logistics Center property under development to Denver investment company Ares Management Corp.
Through AIREIT Commonwealth Logistics Center LLC, Ares Management LLC paid $8.9 million for the land June 30, according to the deed recorded July 1 with the Duval County Clerk of Courts.
InLight Real Estate Partners owned the property through Commonwealth Avenue Jacksonville Propco LLC.
“This is more of an investment venture with Ares than a sale,” said InLight Managing Partner David Burch in an email July 2.
“Deeding the property to the new LLC is part of the structure we agreed to with Ares. We will continue as the developer and handle leasing with Cushman and Ares through construction completion,” he said.
Cushman & Wakefield Managing Directors Tyler Newman and Jacob Horsley are representing Commonwealth Logistics Center, which is scheduled for delivery for tenant build-out in the second quarter of 2023.
The property is 7489 Commonwealth Blvd. and 1700 Imeson Road in West Jacksonville.
“The market conditions really boil down to one thing: uncertainty about future interest rates, Burch said.
“That’s caused the investment market to tighten significantly, with many institutional investors saying that they’ll largely take the summer off and re-evaluate after Labor Day.”
Burch said the net effect is that capitalization rates for sales have widened about 50 basis points, or 0.5%, “for good core product like this property.”
The capitalization rate indicates the rate of return that is expected to be generated on a real estate investment property.
“The development market, however, remains very competitive because tenant demand remains robust. It may be 10% off the peak of 4 months ago, but it’s still 50%+ above pre-Covid levels.”
As a result “we are continuing to pursue good land and redevelopment sites.”
InLight bought the Commonwealth and Imeson property April 5 from N.G. Wade Investment Co. for $3.95 million.
It has been developing the property as Inlight Industrial at Commonwealth.
The city issued permits June 30 for Dana B. Kenyon Co. to build the foundations for two warehouses at a combined cost of $3.4 million.
The city issued a permit for site clearing and site work May 17 at a construction cost of $4.88 million.
The city is reviewing permits for construction for Commonwealth Logistics Center totaling 502,250 square feet of space at a cost of $30.2 million, permits show.
The buildings comprise:
• The 230,060-square-foot Building 1 at 7489 Commonwealth Ave. at a foundation cost of $1.54 million and a building cost of $12.28 million.
• The 272,190-square-foot Building 2 at 1700 Imeson Road at a foundation cost of $1.87 million and construction cost of $14.53 million.
Both are designed as multitenant structures.
Building 1 is a single-load warehouse and Building 2 is a cross-dock center.
Single-load, meaning there are dock doors on one side, is traditional warehousing.
As of March 31, Ares Management Corp.’s global platform had about $325 billion of assets under management, with about 2,100 employees operating in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
Ares was founded to pursue investment activities in leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, private debt, private equity and other types of investments.
After becoming an independent firm in 2002, it raised its first dedicated private equity and private debt funds.
In 2004, it created a specialty finance company, Ares Capital Corp., for corporate lending activities.
It launched its Real Estate Group in 2010 and became a publicly traded partnership in 2014.
In 2018, Ares completed its conversion to a corporation under Delaware law and was renamed Ares Management Corp.
In early 2021, Ares announced the launch of Ares Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
