October 26, 2023, Puget Sound Business Journal
Source: Puget Sound Business Journal
Corliss Management Group, a development company based in Lake Tapps, acquired three Tacoma industrial properties earlier this month, calling the move in a news release a “pivotal moment in the company’s expansion trajectory.”
The $4.1 million purchase includes 2.8 acres across adjacent properties. The site is at 2311 112th St. E. in the Parkland neighborhood, near Pacific Lutheran University.
Mark Walsh, CMG's chief real estate investment officer, told the Business Journal in a statement that the acquisitions will expand the company's industrial footprint and will be its first industrial development in several years.
"CMG has, over the years, developed multiple properties like Junction Park and East Pioneer," he said, referring to industrial projects in Puyallup.
The recently acquired properties include about 14,000 square feet of existing building space as well as 1.3 acres of vacant land. CMG plans to develop more industrial buildings on the vacant portion of the site.
"Industrial is definitely a product we will continue to expand into and believe in," Walsh said. "We are committed to expanding our presence in the industrial sector, firmly believing in its potential."
Walsh said that the industrial sector is a top choice firms like CMG that have long-term investors and a focus on "value growth."
"We anticipate this trend to persist, a sentiment shared by many investors," he said. "In contrast, we have deliberately avoided investing in office buildings due to our perception of them as unsound investments. Specifically, we are focusing on a particular subset of the industrial sector, targeting class B properties."
The acquisition was a 1031 reinvestment from a prior sale, Walsh said. Named for a section of the tax code, 1031 exchanges allow the deferment of capital gains from a sale if the seller buys a similar property.
CMG sold a property at 7702 River Road in Puyallup to Bay Area-based Redco Development for $6.3 million on Oct. 19, according to county sales records.
CMG, a fifth-generation family business, was founded in 1892 as a sand, gravel and mineral company, but has always had a stake in real estate development.
In late 2021, the company sold its Corliss Resources division to Lehigh Hanson for an undisclosed amount. Lehigh is the U.S. subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg Materials. CMG retained ownership of the land for the business and is leasing it back to Lehigh.
CMG owns 10 light industrial properties in the Puget Sound area, as well as multifamily and single-family development sites, retail centers and commercial land, according to its website.
Earlier this year, the company broke ground on a 120-unit apartment development in Puyallup’s South Hill area within the 1,467-acre Sunrise master-planned community.
“This is the start of about 1,000 multifamily units planned for the master-planned community,” Walsh told the Business Journal in June. “The 120 units is the beginning. We just submitted permits for the next 400, which will start next year.”
