Thalhimer to represent prime industrial site in Richmond

Published October 7, 2013 by Paula C. Squires

The 186-acre Philip Morris USA Operations Center Facility remains on the market, but this time with a different sales agent. Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer is now the agent for the disposition of the property, which had formerly been represented by CBRE.

The complex consists of 570,149 square feet of Class A space. It includes a vacant office and laboratory building of 463,786 square feet and a manufacturing R&D building of 106,363 square feet that’s currently occupied by Philip Morris. In addition, there’s an industrial land parcel of about 62 acres and a retail parcel of about four acres.

Jeff Cooke, a senior vice president with Thalhimer, said the property represents an opportunity for prospects looking for a prime industrial site with space for a large corporate office and land for expansion in the city of Richmond. “It’s a very prime parcel,” Cooke said.  “Anyone who needs 200,000 square feet or more, there aren’t many choices.”

Thalhimer has launched a new marketing effort for the property, which has been on the market for several years. “One of the things that held it back … it went on the market in the depth of the real estate recession.  As we’re coming out of that, things are improving, and there will be more opportunities. It’s a good site for a big back office operation, a big call center, something like that.”

Besides the 228,000-square-foot WestMark I office building in the Innsbrook corridor in Henrico County, “There’s very little supply of major office space in Richmond,” said Cooke. “On the development side, if you want to build a distribution center, you could build 700,000 to 800,000 square feet on this site. It’s got lots of expansion opportunities. “

Philip Morris USA, which operates a cigarette manufacturing center close by and is the site’s current owner, plans to stay in the R&D building for several more years, Cooke said, and would probably lease its space back from a new owner.  A price for the parcel has not been set, Cooke said. The most recent assessment from the city of Richmond values the land at $3 million, and the buildings at $27.9 million, for a total of $30.9 million.