Colliers International Represents U.S. Steel in Sale of 1,800-acre, Iconic Pennsylvania Plant
Sale Creates Opportunity for Highly Desirable Industrial Redevelopment in Excess of 10 Million SF Along I-95
Leading global commercial real estate services and investment management firm Colliers International Group Inc. is pleased to announce it has represented United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) in the sale of the iconic Keystone Industrial Port Complex (the “KIPC”) located in Fairless Hills, PA.
The Colliers International Capital Markets team of Michael Blunt, Michael Kendall and Gian Bruno partnered with the Colliers Philadelphia Logistics and Transportation team of Thomas Golarz, Michael Zerbe, Michael Golarz, Mark Chubb, and Summer Coulter to provide industrial expertise and exclusive representation to the Seller.
NorthPoint Development has purchased the KIPC and plans to redevelop the property into a premier bulk logistics center with an estimated 10 million square feet of Class A industrial space. NorthPoint intends to break ground on Phase I of the project, totaling approximately 3 million square feet, in the Spring of 2021.
The KIPC is one of the most prominent and expansive industrial redevelopment opportunities on the entire east coast. Today, it contains about 1.5 million square feet of industrial product on approximately 1,800 acres of land. U. S. Steel began steel production on the site in 1954 and at its peak employed nearly 10,000 workers onsite. Given the property’s established logistics infrastructure, including an inland port, 75 miles of rail service, and 132 kVA of power, the property has been transformed into a multi-tenanted industrial park with prominent corporate users such as Airgas, Kinder Morgan, Starwood Energy Group, Toll Brothers and Covanta Metals.
“The industrial sector is one of the highest performing real estate asset classes in today’s market, both from a capital markets and leasing perspective,” shared David Amsterdam, Colliers International’s President of U.S. Capital Markets and the Northeast Region. “Despite current economic uncertainties, our teams across the country have continued to successfully execute industrial transactions of this scale and I foresee this trend continuing.”
The KIPC is a generational redevelopment opportunity. With an urban-proximate location centralized between New York and Washington D.C, the site is uniquely situated to accommodate superregional bulk logistics requirements as well last-mile fulfillment. The property also offers superior proximity to coastal ports, parcel processing shipping centers, and labor. Its critical mass, market barriers to entry, and adjacency to the new I-95 interchange – which finally completed the eastern United States’ most important highway – contributed to the extraordinary capital demand for this investment opportunity.
“The critical milestones for developing investor engagement and establishing market pricing took place concurrently with COVID-19 shutdowns and peak economic volatility,” noted Executive Vice President Michael Blunt, an industrial capital markets specialist with Colliers International. “There was zero deterioration in pricing or capital demand despite the challenging market conditions, which is a testament to the solidity of industrial fundamentals and the property itself.”
Tenant demand also remains high with over 40 million square feet of active requirements looking within the I-95 superregional logistics market, largely driven by the rise of e-commerce and the proximity to transportation and logistics infrastructure it necessitates. NorthPoint Development has retained Colliers International as exclusive leasing agent to market on its behalf the planned redevelopment, to be rebranded Keystone Trade Center.
“This iconic property is an incredibly unique redevelopment opportunity within a Tier 1 industrial market” stated Vice President Thomas Golarz of Colliers International’s Philadelphia Industrial Logistics and Transportation team. “NorthPoint’s ability to deliver bulk logistics space to a market experiencing record low vacancy, while also providing access to a plentiful labor supply and transportation infrastructure, will undoubtedly result in success.”
About Colliers International
Colliers International (NASDAQ, TSX: CIGI) is a leading diversified professional services and investment management company. With operations in 68 countries, our more than 15,000 enterprising professionals work collaboratively to provide expert advice to maximize the value of property for real estate occupiers, owners and investors. For more than 25 years, our experienced leadership, owning approximately 40% of our equity, has delivered compound annual investment returns of almost 20% for shareholders. In 2019, corporate revenues were more than $3.0 billion ($3.5 billion including affiliates), with $33 billion of assets under management in our investment management segment.
