JLL fund buys Tampa warehouse

JLL Income Property Trust, a Chicago-based non-listed real estate investment trust, has acquired the Madison Business Center in Tampa for $28.3 million.

The 386,000-square-foot industrial building, at 4406 Madison International Lane, is fully occupied by HD Supply and Masonite, and each business has roughly six years remaining on its current lease.

The cross-docked warehouse, which JLL says it purchased at a going-in cap rate of 6%, is HD Supply and Masonite's primary distribution center for Central and Southwest Florida.

The purchase marks the first along the Gulf Coast for JLL, a REIT with roughly $1.6 billion in overall assets.

“We've been very selective in finding just the right asset in Tampa, a market we think has been later in recovering than many nationwide but, as a result, has legs for further growth,” says Brian Kuzniar, a JLL portfolio manager.

“We like the tenants in the building, the high quality of construction, and it's near transportation like the Port (of Tampa) and Tampa International (Airport). So it ticked a lot of boxes for us.”

Prior to the purchase by JLL, Madison Business Center had been owned by Industrial Developments International, of Atlanta. The building was completed in 2008, according to Hillsborough County property records.

Madison Business Center becomes the latest in a wave of industrial properties that the JLL fund has purchased since 2013. In all, it has acquired 17 industrial assets and allocated $345 million, according to fund data.