Faropoint acquires Branchburg industrial property for $23.75M

Hoboken-based Faropoint added another asset to its growing portfolio of last-mile industrial properties.

Cushman & Wakefield said Jan. 30 it arranged the sale of the 151,000-square-foot asset located at 3140 Route 22 in Branchburg to Faropoint for $23.75 million.

The 13.38-acre property serves as the North American headquarters to Marcolin USA, an Italian company that designs and manufacturers sunglasses and optical frames for big-name brands, including Tom Ford, Max Mara, Pucci, Kenneth Cole, Harley-Davidson, adidas Orginals and others, in addition to its house brands, WEB Eyewear and Viva.

Cushman & Wakefield Executive Vice Chair Gary Gabriel, Executive Managing Director Kyle Schmidt, Managing Director Andrew Schwartz, Director Jordan Sobel, Senior Director Ryan Larkin and Senior Associate Andre Balthazard represented the seller, Viva Branchburg LLC, and procured the buyer in the transaction.

“For a variety of reasons, this opportunity was attractive given its significant in-place yield, low basis and proximity to highly trafficked interstates including the I-287 corridor, I-78, I-80 and Route 22,” said Faropoint Director of Acquisitions, Greater New York Orry Michael in a statement. He also highlighted the corporate demographics of the area in addition to the property’s tenant as draws.

“Most importantly, the asset serves as Marcolin USA’s North American headquarters and sole distribution facility, which in turn, allows for a long-term commitment to both the tenant and the asset,” Michael said. “With this acquisition, we look forward to marking the firm’s continued expansion across micro locations in Central New Jersey and are grateful to the Cushman & Wakefield team for their professionalism, expertise in the market and seamless execution of the deal from start to finish.”

Faropoint said it’s acquired more than 400 warehouses since its 2012 founding, with a focus on small to medium last-mile logistics assets.

In a statement, Schwartz highlighted the Branchburg property’s direct access to Manhattan (a 45-minute trip) from its location in the Interstate 78 submarket. “As a single-tenant industrial building, the asset offers a predictable income stream from a long-term, strong credit tenant,” he added.

“The bid-ask spread between buyers and sellers together with turbulent capital markets have made identifying deals with strong return metrics increasingly difficult,” Faropoint Senior Vice President of Northeast Markets Itay Ron said in a prepared statement. “Faropoint’s established presence in the Greater New York metro area, along with our relationships on the ground and transactional certainty enabled our team to close this deal at a very attractive price per square foot relative to other comparable property sales and land sales in the area. We look forward to continue expanding our presence regionally.”

Throughout 2022, Faropoint made a number of moves in the area, which it targets along with others with strong demographics and high construction barriers, such as Atlanta, Dalla, Philadelphia, Chicago, Tampa, Miami, Baltimore and Memphis. Over the summer, it added a fully lease, 44,000-square-foot property in Bergen County and last spring the firm purchased an approximately 140,000-square-foot building in South Jersey located just a 30-minute drive from center city Philadelphia.

Faropoint also made what it categorized as one of the largest last-mile urban logistics portfolio sales in recent years when it offloaded a 109-property portfolio for $481 million in July.