Purchase of Manufacturing Facility Opens Possibilities of New Tenants, Jobs
Sale/Acquisition of the Year for Columbia, South Carolina
The $26.5 million acquisition of the industrial facility in Blythewood, South Carolina, opens up opportunities for the facility and the community. The sale earned a 2024 CoStar Impact Award for sale/acquisition of the year in Columbia, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Weston Inc. bought the property in February 2023. The company has the ability to divide the property into multiple bays to accommodate a broader pool of tenants. The Bose Corp. originally built the facility, breaking ground in 1995 for its southeastern U.S. headquarters for manufacturing, engineering and distribution. In 2015, Bose decided to shut down operations at the plant and move the work to Arizona and Mexico. The facility remained vacant for years until clothing company LuLaRoe bought it to use as an East Coast distribution facility.
The deal between Weston and LuLaRoe is a sale-leaseback, as LuLaRoe plans to scale back its use of the facility and move manufacturing outside of Columbia.
With Weston’s acquisition and potential redevelopment of the site, it allows for opportunities to bring more jobs to the community.
About the Property: The facility at 2000 Carolina Pines Drive in Blythewood, South Carolina, is located off Interstate 77 in the Carolina Pines Industrial Park, less than 4 miles from Scout Motor’s future $2 billion manufacturing plant. The property sits on approximately 100 acres with 38 dock doors and two drive-in doors. It’s split into three warehouse sections with enough power to handle light manufacturing. The property has about 40 acres of additional land available for development.
What the Judges Said: “Great repositioning opportunity for the former Bose Building, a great manufacturing facility with plenty more use left in it,” said Ryan Coleman, director at Columbia Economic Development. Meanwhile, Peyton Bryant, partner and director of business development at Trinity Partners, said, “This property is most deserving in my opinion because the project ‘saved’ an otherwise declining property.”
They Made It Happen: Wyatt Groseclose of Northmarq; Wade Cox of Sands Investment Group; Bill Robertson of KBC Advisors; and Colliers’ Charles Salley, Dave Mathews, Thomas Beard and John Peebles facilitated this transaction.