Thor planning warehouse in Paterson

Developer negotiating $26M acquisition from Alma Realty

Thor Equities chairman Joseph Sitt, and the property on the corner of Getty and Madison Avenues in Paterson, NJ (Google Maps, Thor Equities)
Thor Equities chairman Joseph Sitt, and the property on the corner of Getty and Madison Avenues in Paterson, NJ (Google Maps, Thor Equities)

The industrial (real estate) revolution shows no signs of stopping as Thor Equities takes aim at its next warehouse target: Paterson.

The developer is looking to build a $35 million warehouse across five blocks of the New Jersey city’s 6th Ward, NorthJersey.com reported. The warehouse would be developed on the 17-acre site at the corner of Getty and Madison Avenues.

An industrial building has stood on the site of Thor’s planned development for more than 80 years, but Joseph Sitt’s firm wants to demolish it and put a smaller building in its place. The development would include 53 loading docks for trucks and more than 300 parking spaces.

The city’s planning board approved the project on Monday, but it will need further municipal approvals, according to NorthJersey.com. Thor also needs to close on acquiring the site, which is owned by Alma Realty. The property has been assessed at $25.9 million, according to city tax records.

“There’s such an insatiable demand for quality industrial space, so to be able to revitalize this five-block area is really good news,” said Paterson’s economic development director, Michael Powell.

The property almost had a very different future. Green Thumb Industries proposed growing medical marijuana on the site, according to NorthJersey.com. Those plans ultimately fell through.

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Thor has recent experience with the New Jersey industrial market. It purchased a warehouse at 241 Oraton Street in Newark about a month ago from Jewels Transportation. The 131,000-square-foot asset traded hands for $32 million and includes nine loading docks, two drive-in doors and a deep truck court.

Northern New Jersey is one of the hottest industrial markets in the country due to tenant interest in access to the country’s largest consumer market. Asking rents in the submarket rose 23 percent in 2021 to an average of $10.85 per square foot, a high point for the region, data from Savills Research shows.

More than 11.7 million square feet of industrial space was under construction at the end of the year. The vacancy rate was 2.3 percent, down from 3.7 percent a year earlier.

[NorthJersey.com] — Holden Walter-Warner