Wharton Industrial Signs Warehousing & Logistics to 170,000 SF Lease in Hazleton, PA

Deal adds to real estate investment firm’s success across growing industrial portfolio

HAZLETON, PA. (Feb. 22, 2021)  — Wharton Industrial announced today that Patton Warehousing & Logistics has signed a lease at a Wharton-owned facility in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Patton, a premier 3^rd party logistics company specializing in distribution, technology, contract packaging services, fulfillment, indoor rail, transportation and logistics, and more, will occupy a total of 170,000 square feet at the warehouse located at 69 Green Mountain Road. Headquartered in Milton, Pa., it also maintains locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia.

Jeff Lockard, Ryan Barros, Larry Maister, and Jeff Williams of JLL represented Wharton in the transaction.

“Hazleton serves as a natural extension of the successful Lehigh Valley market, and the easy access it provides to multiple large metro areas makes it a prime destination for distribution and logistics users such as Patton,” said Peter C. Lewis, Chairman and Founder of Wharton Equity Industrial. “Wharton acquired this property a little more than 15 months ago after recognizing its potential as an emerging hub for these kinds of companies, and the continued growth of e-commerce has only increased demand for industrial space across the region. This agreement confirms our vision for this warehouse and similar facilities along the Eastern Seaboard, and we look forward to continuing to meet the evolving needs of users like Patton and the entire industrial sector in the years to come.”

Wharton Industrial has owned the Green Mountain Road property since October 2019, when it acquired it through a joint venture with CenterSquare Investment Management, LLC. Originally built in 1999 as a distribution center for Office Depot, the facility totals 589,580 square feet and sits on 52.6 acres.  The state-of-the-art warehouse features a side-loading format, with 82 dock doors equipped with 30,000-pound mechanical levelers; two drive-in doors; four rail doors; an ESFR sprinkler system; 75-foot speed bays; 33-foot clear heights; a 210-foot truck court; and parking for 305 cars. It is also served by rail.

With the Patton lease, there is approximately 160,000 SF remaining that is situated in the prime area within the building due to its 20 docks doors, proximity to an abundance of employee parking and a generous office and a break-out area.

The property is strategically located just four miles from the Exit 143 interchange of Interstate 81, with excellent proximity to primary distribution corridors that service the Northeast, including I-81, I-80, I-476, and I-78. It is also located within a 35-minute drive of both FedEx and UPS parcel operations.

Other tenants at the facility include PFNonwovens LLC, a leader in high-performance, sustainable, nonwoven fabrics, which occupies approximately 260,000 square feet of the property.

About Wharton Industrial

Wharton Industrial is a leading investor and developer of industrial real estate, with a robust pipeline of properties across the Eastern Seaboard, Florida and the southeast. Steered by the company’s forward-thinking leadership team, Wharton has been extremely active  in the industrial sector since 2017, developing last-mile distribution facilities in proximity to major urban markets as well as big box spec development projects in the southeast. Wharton Industrial is a platform company of Wharton Equity Partners, an innovative real estate investment firm with extensive experience acquiring, developing and operating a wide range of real estate asset classes since its inception in 1987. Before shifting to building out its industrial platform, Wharton Equity Partners was an early mover in secondary-market multifamily investment, where it amassed a $500 million portfolio of value-add apartment properties across the South and Midwest, which it ultimately sold for a weighted average IRR well in excess of 20%.