Two Baltimore warehouse properties were scooped up by a Bethesda investment trust this fall as part of a $57 million portfolio blitz.
1788 Holdings LLC acquired industrial facilities at 6901 Rolling Mill Road in East Baltimore near Patterson High School and 1601 Wicomico St. near M&T Bank Stadium as its first deals in the local market. The total acquisition cost for both properties was $22.8 million.
The local deals were part of a larger push by 1788 Holdings to expand its industrial base as the strong market continues its hot streak that started before and continued during the pandemic. Overall, 1788 Holdings has recently acquired more than 1 million square feet of space stretched across 14 properties for a total of $57 million.
Plans for the Baltimore warehouses are to set them up as large- scale outdoor storage operations. Such space has become critical to companies like automakers, construction suppliers and e- commerce firms that use the Port of Baltimore and Interstate 95 to deliver their goods to a holding spot before they are moved on to consumers.
The port has become a major cargo gateway and added new lines even as congestion at several ports across the U.S. has jammed deliveries. The surge in e-commerce has also added container deliveries through the port, which then are shipped out via rail to other destinations in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
"We believe the availability of this acreage represents a significant competitive advantage in the Baltimore city submarket,” said Larry J. Goodwin, principal of 1788 Holdings, in a statement. "As a port city, Baltimore is a primary destination for roll-on/roll-off cargo, particularly automobiles, trucks and heavy equipment cargo and there remains continuing demand for storage sites with immediate proximity. Most of the infill light industrial properties in the immediate trade area do not have excess land for this type of storage, and we are filling this ongoing need."
1788 Holdings has much of its portfolio based in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast. The firm's light industrial push started in 2018 after it acquired the 435,000-square-foot Riverside Business Center in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. The company has since expanded its footprint into seven states.
A recent report by Cushman & Wakefield researchers said the hot industrial market was expected to continue into next year as more than 481 million square feet of industrial space is expected to be leased across the U.S.