By Jon Peterson
Conshohocken, Pa.-based Exeter Property Group has plans to start development in June on a 264,000 square foot distribution industrial building in Livermore located at 15 Greenville Road, according to sources aware of the company’s activities.
Exeter did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for the story. The real estate investment manager had paid $8.8 million to acquire the 13.2 acres of land for the project at the end of January this year. The anticipated development cost of the project is in the low $100 per square foot range, as stated by sources familiar with the project.
The buyer was represented in the transaction by the Pleasanton office of Colliers International. The listing agent was Michael Donnelly, a senior vice president with the company. “This development will be started on a spec basis. There is very strong demand in Livermore with not a lot of new supply being added to the market. This location will allow a user to be close to the Port of Oakland to move its products around,” he said.
The Livermore industrial market remains very tight. “Current vacancy in the market is in the low single-digits. Rents in the market over the past 12 months have increased by anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent. A main reason for this is the low vacancy and not much new development occurring in the market,” said Donnelly.
The expectation is that the building in Livermore will be delivered to the market in the first quarter of 2018. The property is likely to be occupied by a single tenant. The facility will have a minimum amount of office space, which should be somewhere in the range of 5 percent.
The seller of the property was Pleasanton-based Chamberlin Associates. They were represented in the transaction by CBRE. The listing agents were Doug Norton and Mike Walker. The seller had owned the site in Livermore for over 10 years. At one point, the company had thought of developing the site into a mixed-use project.
Exeter made its investment into the Livermore project for one of its commingled investment funds. The real estate manager is still raising capital for Exeter Industrial Value Fund IV, and the total capital raise could be around $1.3 billion.
The San Francisco Bay Area remains one of its targeted markets. According to its Web site, Exeter has a regional office in Oakland at 2001 Broadway. The company considers a variety of investment opportunities including, development, re-development and buying existing assets that need to be re-leased.
