Thor Equities nabs 131K sf Newark warehouse

Single-tenant industrial asset sits in tight NJ submarket

Thor Equities's chairman Joseph Sitt (Thor Equities, Loopnet)
Thor Equities's chairman Joseph Sitt (Thor Equities, Loopnet)

Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities advanced its push into industrial real estate with a purchase in New Jersey’s sky-high market.

Jewels Transportation sold the warehouse at 241 Oraton Street in Newark JLL announced last week. JLL represented the seller and its team was led by Jordan Avanzato and Marc Duval.

The companies did not confirm financial terms of the deal, but BLDUP reported the 131,000-square-foot asset traded hands for $32 million. The two-building property stretches across five acres, including nine loading docks, two drive-in doors, a deep truck court and more than 9,700 square feet of office space. Jewels Transportation recently inked a long-term lease at the facility.

The warehouse has the advantage of being close to a number of transportation thoroughfares, a key feature of most industrial real estate. The property is near several interstates, the Holland Tunnel, Port of Newark and Newark Liberty International Airport. The site sits about an hour’s reach from much of New Jersey, Manhattan, Staten Island and Queens.

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The property is in one of New Jersey’s most popular infill logistics locations near the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal. According to JLL, the local submarket had a vacancy rate at a low 1 percent in the fourth quarter. New Jersey’s overall average vacancy rate was also miniscule last quarter, only 1.3 percent.

Sitt’s firm made a number of industrial plays in 2021. In October, Thor picked up a pair of industrial properties totaling nearly 160,000 square feet in South Chicago, spending more than $11 million for the two properties. Both properties are alongside the city’s Interstate 55.

Thor also pushed into the Los Angeles industrial market last year. The firm paid $30 million for a nearly 200,000-square-foot warehouse in Carson in April, its first acquisition in the Southern California industrial market.

Meanwhile, the company is continuing with its industrial plans in the tristate area. Last year, the company nabbed $76 million in construction financing and a $155 million joint venture equity recapitalization for a warehouse at 280 Richards Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The warehouse is entirely pre-leased to Amazon.