By Liz Segrist
lsegrist@scbiznews.com
Published July 3, 2012
The Covington Group, a national real estate company, bought two Upstate industrial parks with plans to rebrand and attract the industrial sector.
The company bought two buildings off Augusta Road in Greenville and three buildings off Highway 14 in Greer, totaling approximately 682,000 square feet of warehouse in the Upstate market.
The deal, Covington’s first in South Carolina, closed on Friday. The Covington Group, formerly known as Covington Capital, is actively negotiating with potential tenants, one or two of which could enter into an agreement within the next 45 days.
Covington plans to improve the buildings to up their competitiveness as a new industrial player in the market. The buildings will be rebranded as Logistics Point Greenville and Logistics Point Greer.
“We are planning to do what we normally do, which is go in and create a redevelopment program,” Covington Group Senior Vice President Michael Skunda said. “We will do upgrades, such as new lighting, painting and upgrades to dock doors and parking lots, and then offer the buildings back out to the industrial community.”
With demand increasing and vacancy rates declining, Skunda said he had no reservations buying in what he calls a “very healthy market.” Covington intends to consider options of building speculatively or build-to-suit in the market.
Skunda has been studying the Greenville market for about four years. The educational programs and manufacturing base were attractive, but the I-85 corridor and its proximity to Charlotte and Atlanta in particular drew him to the area.
“This is their first step into the Greenville market,” said Perry Major, CBRE senior associate of industrial and brokerage services. “They want to build relationships with current tenants and future ones.”
CBRE represented the landlord in the sale and will work as the listing agent.
The Covington Group is a Dallas-based private equity and real estate investment group. For more than 30 years, Covington has specialized in entrepreneurial investments and in the redevelopment and repositioning of buildings and assets.
