Griffin Capital buys Brennan distribution building in Lakeland for $60 million

Just months after landing Pepsico division Quaker Oats as a tenant in one of the largest leases of 2017, Brennan Investment Co. has sold the first building in its CenterState Logistics Center project, in Lakeland, for $59.6 million.

Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT Inc., of Los Angeles, acquired the 605,412-square-foot building from Chicago-based Brennan and Greenfield Partners, a Connecticut private equity firm.

The transaction marks the California company’s first purchase in the Interstate 4 corridor, considered to be one of the premier distribution centers nationwide because of its ability to reach millions of consumers throughout Florida within a day’s drive time.

Commercial real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Team — Vice Chairman Mike Davis and Executive Directors Rick Brugge and Michael Lerner — represented Brennan and Greenfield in the transaction, one of the largest investment sales along the Gulf Coast thus far in 2018.

Quaker, which distributes Gatorade from the 8060 State Road 33 facility, will occupy the entire building through at least 2028. Brennan began the Class A building in 2016 on a speculative basis.

Brennan executives last year indicated they planned to start work in 2018 on a second, slightly smaller, building within CenterState Logistics.

“Lakeland remains the logistics center of Florida,” Brugge says. “This asset is a phenomenal, brand-new building with a 10-year lease term remaining in place, Quaker is a good credit tenant and Gatorade is the No. 1 sports drink in the world,” he adds. “There’s a lot to like from an investment perspective.”

Brugge says, too, that the deal bodes well for future investment acquisitions in the I-4 Corridor.

“The response from the market was very strong,” he says. “We had a number of institutional bidders vying for this property.”