Published on Friday, May 3, 2024
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The U.S. recorded sales volume of $9.97 billion for industrial property, with an average sales price of $147 per SF
Both the number of industrial property transactions and their total sales volume slipped in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year. However, a single enormous deal for California property owned by Genentech pushed the average sale price up 22% from the previous quarter, according to CommercialEdge’s April 2024 national industrial report.
In total, the U.S. recorded sales volume of $9.97 billion for industrial property, with an average sales price of $147 per SF. However, the average would have been $130 per SF had it not been for the acquisition of Genentech’s manufacturing facility in Vacaville from Roche for $1.2 billion in cash by Swiss company Lonza. That sale was for $2,810 per SF, CommercialEdge stated.
At 427,000 SF, the Vacaville site in California’s Bay Area is one of the largest biologics manufacturing facilities in the world by volume. It has a total bioreactor capacity of around 330,000 liters. Lonza said the acquisition will increase its large-scale biologics manufacturing capacity for mammalian therapies and expand its network of facilities in the U.S. Lonza also plans to invest CHF 500 million ($550 million) to upgrade the facility.
“We expect biotechnology and biomanufacturing to continue to be an in-demand sector in the Bay Area,” CommercialEdge commented.
The Vacaville deal helped push 1Q 2024 industrial sales in the Bay Area to $1.6 billion, with a sales price of $777 per SF. That total was double second-place finisher Dallas-Fort Worth’s haul of $831 million at $145 per SF. Other metros with sales exceeding $500 million were Chicago ($585 million), Los Angeles ($545 million) and New Jersey ($520 million).
Meanwhile, 406 million SF of industrial space is under construction nationally – a drop of two-thirds compared to the same period in 2023, the report said.