Better late than never? TF Cornerstone jumps into industrial

TF Cornerstone has dipped its toes into the once-scorching industrial sector with the purchase of a distribution center in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Tom and Fred Elghanayan’s firm bought the property just outside Washington, D.C., from Blue Vista Capital Management and CSG Partners for $79.5 million. The sellers developed the facility  at 95 Distribution Center in 2021, and FedEx is currently leasing the 486,000-square-foot building, which has 55 dock doors and 157 trailer stalls.

The deal was first reported by the Commercial Observer.

Distribution centers were a hot commodity even before Covid arrived in 2020 and triggered lockdown orders and stimulus checks that accelerated online shopping. Amazon, in a quest to speed deliveries, doubled its fulfillment and distribution space across the country between 2020 and 2022.

But last year, Amazon admitted that it bought far more industrial space than it needed, and demand for distribution centers softened.

In that context, the timing of TFC’s move to buy one is curious. The company traditionally has focused on luxury rental apartments and retail in New York, but it has a number of office holdings in the Washington, DC, area. No industrial properties were listed on its website prior to the Virginia purchase.

It remains to be seen whether the Fredericksburg acquisition is part of a broader push into industrial space for TFC. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Jonathan Carpenter and Graham Savage led the brokerage team for Blue Vista and CSG Partners, while the buyer was represented in-house.

Earlier this year, the two brothers’ firm — born from a famous coin flip in 2009 — landed construction loans totaling $735 million to build a 1,386-unit apartment complex in Long Island City’s Hunters Point.

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