San Francisco-based industrial behemoth Prologis Corp. has acquired a more than 1,200-acre parcel in the city of Tracy at the foot of the Altamont Pass.
The acquisition comes on the heels of the Prologis announcement that it would build a more than one million square-foot fulfillment center for Amazon.com in Tracy. But Prologis Northwest Region President Scott Lamson said there is no cause and effect or relationship between the two transactions other than his company’s abiding interest in doing business in the East Bay town.
The Prologis acquisition is part of the well-known Cordes Ranch and is contiguous to the Patterson Pass Business Park, which Prologis developed along Interstate 580. The Cordes Ranch property, which fronts Interstate 205, is not expected to be fully entitled until August. It should render 1,040 acres of developable land once roads and other infrastructure are complete, Lamson said.
He declined to say what the property’s ultimate development capacity might be or to give a sales price. Prologis does not typically disclose deal-level details, even though it is a publicly traded company. The acquisition was not discussed on the company’s most recent conference call with analysts Feb. 6 nor was the Amazon deal, according to a transcript from SeekingAlpha.com.
“We are really excited about the location,” Lamson said. “It is the closest located major distribution property in the Bay Area. It’s 45 minutes from the port of Oakland with easy access to [Interstate] Highway 5 to go north and south on the West Coast.” It’s also well located within a large workforce.
Michael Goldstein, managing partner for Colliers International in Stockton and an industrial property specialist, said it is hard to overstate the value of the Cordes Ranch site, which is part of a larger proposed planned development of 1,600 acres that includes multiple property types.
“It is one of the top one or two industrial pieces in the entire region,” he said. “It is really Main and Main. It has great proximity to the Bay Area, intermodal facilities and the main arterial highways.”
He also credited Prologis’ long history in Tracy and an able development team for navigating the city entitlement process. Others have tried and failed, he said.
The purchase is also significant for what it signifies within Prologis, which is distilling its land portfolio. The company recently completed an analysis of its land holdings and has concluded that it should sell $200 million worth while keeping tracts valued at $1.7 billion, its chief financial officer, Thomas Olinger, told analysts on the call. So even as it is culling elsewhere, it is buying in Tracy.
“This site provides us a very unique opportunity to build one of the largest, master-planned, distribution, manufacturing and industrial business parks in Northern California,” Lamson said.
