31-acre Saco parcel scooped up for light industrial development
Courtesy / The Boulos Co.
Framingham, Mass., real estate investment firm Calare Properties Inc. bought 31 acres at 45 Industrial Park Road in Saco with the goal of building a 165,000-square-foot industrial building, depicted here in a rendering, for tenants.
Bolstered by its success earning a tidy profit on a Westbrook industrial property last year, a Framingham, Mass., real estate investment firm recently made another foray into Maine’s industrial market with the purchase of land in Saco.
Calare Properties Inc. bought 31 acres at 45 Industrial Park Road from Sweetser for $1 million.
Jon Rizzo from the Boulos Co. and Chris Craig from the Dunham Group brokered the sale.
Founded in 2003, Calare is a real estate operator and developer focused on acquiring and managing warehouse, manufacturing, research and flex/office assets primarily in the Northeast. It has led the acquisition of over 19 million square feet of properties, representing $900 million in real estate transactions through funds, direct deals and a multi-asset portfolio.
Large-scale build-to-suit
Rizzo said he and his group identified the property as a development prospect for Calare early last year.
“It seemed liked a great large-scale development site,” he said.
A couple of big drivers for the concept were proximity to I-95’s Exit 36 and the large scale of the envisioned development.
Calare has a proposal to put up a 165,000-square-foot industrial building with 60-foot clear height ceilings, 33 tailboard doors and parking for 47 trailers, according to Boulos Co. marketing materials.
The company will offer build-to-suit customized interiors for tenancy in all or parts of the space, said Rizzo.
The site allows for a large-scale distribution, cold storage, manufacturing, biopharma, office and/or research and development facility. It’s marketed as an ideal location for the Greater Portland market.
The plan, he said, is to clear the site over the coming two months and to market the property to potential tenants.
The projected project cost was not disclosed.
Bullish on industrial
“We’d like to get it leased up before really digging into construction,” he said. “But they’re bullish on the market.”
That’s in part due to demand Calare saw when, in May 2020, it bought an a 126,072-square-foot industrial building at 5 Bradley Drive in Westbrook’s Five Star Industrial Park.
Viewing it as an entry point into Maine’s industrial real estate market, Calare paid $8.75 million for that property and immediately signed a long-term lease with Abbott Diagnostic Scarborough Inc., a subsidiary of Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
Calare then sold it six months later for $22.75 million, netting $14 million.
Rizzo was one of the brokers on that deal, too.
Replicating success
“They think the success at 5 Bradley Drive can be replicated in a state-of-the-art distribution building,” said Rizzo.
It’s expected that space will be available by mid- to late 2022, he said.
“It’s tough for someone to say, ‘We’re going to build on speculation,’ especially something of this scale,” he said. “But they believe in this market and they believe this is an A-plus location that will be very attractive to tenants, whether they’re in the market currently or new to the market.”
Rizzo said conversations are already underway with a number of potential tenants.
“Things are looking good,” he said.
Recent industrial market updates for Greater Portland report the vacancy rate is below 2%.
“There’s not much availability, period, big or small,” he said. You have a facility like this, that’s going to be new construction — that’s pretty unique to the market. So it will be in demand.”
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