A 21-year tenant anchors a $9.96M Baltimore industrial sale

Dejana Truck and Utility Equipment has occupied 6901 Rolling Mill Road for 21 years through a lease held by a subsidiary of a publicly traded company, and the $9.96 million sale of the single-tenant Baltimore manufacturing building turned on that tenancy. Marcus & Millichap's Washington, D.C., office brokered the trade for a Maryland-based private investment company and procured the New York-based, institutionally backed investment fund that bought it, Connect CRE reported.

Merrey, senior managing director of investments in that office, described the asset in the language of a building that functions as a fitted glove: “The property's specialized features and long operating history made it particularly well suited to the tenant's business.” He and John Faus exclusively marketed the property for the seller and procured the buyer.

The 1967 building combines a 69,170-square-foot warehouse, a 6,730-square-foot office, and outdoor storage on 6.44 acres, putting the reported 75,000-square-foot figure at roughly $133 per square foot, a level that makes sense only because the tenant has stayed 21 years.

That an institutionally backed fund bought a $10 million single-tenant asset says the tenant credit made the deal attractive to larger capital, and the combination of price and tenancy now gives owners of specialized manufacturing space in the region a comp to use when they take assets to market. Baltimore is a smaller entry in a summer of small industrial trades. V12 Investments paid $3.9 million for a warehouse in Hudson, N.H. At the L.A. ports, vacancy has reached a recent peak of 7 percent even as leasing hit a five-year high. An institution buying a single tenant with two decades on site is paying for a rent roll rather than optionality, and in this corner of the market, the stickiest leases clear first.