Benzinga | Aug 17, 2021 01:12PM EDT

Joint Venture To Develop $42.5M Last-Mile Industrial Property In Seattle Opportunity Zone

Real estate investment firm GTIS Partners and real estate developer Ryan Companies have formed a joint venture to develop a last-mile industrial/urban logistics property located in one of Seattle, Washington's Qualified Opportunity Zones.

Once completed, the $42.5-million development will span 126,646 square feet across four stories. The site is located just 1 mile south of downtown Seattle and adjacent to several Port of Seattle terminals in SoDo, which has unique access to the urban core markets of Seattle and the hub of bulk distribution facilities located farther south in Kent Valley.

Demand Grows For Urban Industrial Space: Industrial spaces have been moving closer to the urban core of major cities as the need for last-mile distribution facilities grows. The continued adoption of e-commerce and growing expectation for fast delivery means logistics companies need more distribution centers closer to consumers.

Zoning regulations in most cities limit the supply of available land to develop these last-mile facilities, which makes projects like this one attractive to investors.

Seattle Industrial Real Estate Market: Institutional investors have been active in Seattle's industrial real estate market over the last year. This is largely due to its growing population and the Port of Seattle being the fifth-largest container gateway in North America.

The industrial REIT Terreno Realty Corporation (NYSE:TRNO) acquired roughly 52,000 square feet of industrial space less than one mile from this new development in May of this year.

Another industrial REIT, Duke Realty (NYSE:DRE), started development of a 192,000-square-foot logistics warehouse in Seattle's Kent Valley Market, which was slated to be available for occupancy Aug. 1, 2021.

Photo: Dustin Taylor on Unsplash.