Case Study

Summary

SSF Logistics Center is located on the west side of Highway 101 in South San Francisco at 1070 San Mateo Boulevard. The property is situated upon 26 acres of land and contains two buildings totaling 462,000 square feet of space. The property is located one mile from SFO International Airport, and benefits from unique entitlements permitting airfreight use and high truck traffic trip counts per day relative to other sites on the Peninsula. Given the overall size of this industrial property, it is one of the largest logistics facilities of its kind on the Peninsula.

Situation

  • In 1955, the property was developed and owned by the Government Services Administration. Historically, the property was occupied by the US Postal Service, the San Francisco US Mint, the DEA, and used for GSA storage.
  • In 2007, the GSA offered for sale its warehouse building on a 100% vacant basis, consisting of one warehouse building containing 571,748 SF and situated upon 19.79 acres of land.
  • In 2008, ownership also acquired an adjacent parking lot totaling 5.23 acres located at 1080 San Mateo Avenue and along the west side of the former GSA facility.
  • In 2009, ownership also purchased an abandoned rail-spur property located along the eastern property boundary of the former GSA building totaling 1.15 acres. The acquisition of both parcels enhanced circulation of the former GSA facility, and provided additional functionality through the inclusion of deeper truck courts and trailer storage yard areas.
  • Following the assemblage of all three parcels, ownership spent over two years seeking entitlements, a Master Use Permit from the City of South San Francisco (“SSF”), and approval from the neighboring City of San Bruno.
  • In mid-2010, ownership prevailed and received its entitlements for a 633,168 SF multi-tenant project that consisted of the main warehouse of 571,748 SF (former GSA), the potential to add four new industrial buildings totaling 52,300 SF, and one new retail/service building of 9,120 SF. Unique to the entitlements was the inclusion of a significant portion of the site to be permitted for airfreight use.

Results

  • As the overall economy continued to languish, ownership engaged Orchard Partners to join the partnership and recapitalized the project.
  • During 2011, Orchard Partners modified the original business plan to focus on larger corporate tenants, or a single logistics user for the entire site.
  • In part, this strategy was developed to serve companies like large logistics companies or one of several e-commerce fulfillment companies experiencing strong growth and need for infill warehouse space within the Bay Area, coinciding with the scarcity of large blocks of warehouse space.
  • Although several tenants expressed a desire to lease all or part of SFO Logistics Center, ownership focused its leasing efforts on Fed Ex Ground (“FXG”) to lease the entire site.
  • Following several months of negotiation and site plan modification, ownership sought formal modification of the site plan with the City so as to accommodate FXG’s requirements.
  • In the Fall of 2012, ownership gained project approval from SSF’s Planning Commission to renovate the SFO Logistics Center and lease 418,216 SF to FXG, including the demolition of 118,672 SF of building area so as to accommodate more passenger vehicle parking, efficient layout for its sophisticated material handling equipment on the interior of the warehouse, and to provide additional dock-high loading doors and truck trailer storage.
  • With the assistance of its leasing team at Cassidy Turley, ownership signed its lease with FedEx Ground in January 2013, marking one of the largest leases ever made in the Bay Area and creating one of FXG’s largest global facilities.
  • In May of 2013, ownership retained CBRE & Cassidy Turley to list the property for sale.
  • The offering attracted investor interest from around the globe, resulting in the close of escrow in October 2013 to Invesco.
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