Greenville’s largest industrial park acquired by private investors
September 14, 2016
At 1,100-acres, The Matrix, the largest industrial park of its kind in Greenville County, has a new owner, a new name, and will soon have a new look. The park’s new ownership entity, Augusta Grove – Greenville, LLC, is a partnership led by TPA Group of Atlanta and Appian Investments, a Greenville-based investment group, together with Greenville County Business Park Public Facilities Corporation as a minority partner. TPA/Appian will manage the venture that now owns more than 700 acres that remain undeveloped within the park.
NAI Earle Furman sourced the complex transaction and will be taking over management, marketing and development while overseeing a substantial rebranding effort to reintroduce the park as Augusta Grove – A Greenville SC Business Park. The park will also receive a number of significant improvements including new signage, landscaping and lighting plans. These improvements will add value to the already established park, completing the vision for a truly best-of-class master-planned business park.
The Matrix was created more than 15 years ago to expand the economic development opportunity in Greenville County and until now has been owned and marketed by a county-led initiative. Fueled by the proximity to major interstates, Greenville’s central position along I-85 between Atlanta and Charlotte, and the neighboring South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC, the 2,600-acre former Donaldson Airforce base and home of an expanding group of nearly 100 corporate users such as Michelin and Lockheed), The Matrix has seen success attracting a diverse mix of key successful manufacturing and logistics owners such as GE Aviation, KI Logistics, Roy Metals, The Blood Connection, Sun City Produce, JTEKT, Magna Industries and others.
The Matrix property, now known as Augusta Grove, measures approximately 1,100 acres in total making it the largest industrial park in Greenville County of its kind, and one of the three largest in the Upstate. Of the total acreage, 10 or more owners have acquired and developed sites that are home to major operation centers, but at least 13 undeveloped sites remain totaling approximately 709 acres.
NAI Earle Furman, a leading full-service commercial real estate firm specializing in the office, industrial, investment, land, multifamily and retail sectors represented the buyer, Augusta Grove – Greenville, LLC, and will facilitate future land sales and development as well as manage the overall park. Maximum flexibility and efficiency are the cornerstones of the park’s enhanced product offering. Prospective users will have many facility options from which to choose; state-of-the-art speculative buildings, land and building ownership opportunities, and build-to-suit options which provide businesses maximum flexibility in the short- and long-term.
According to market data, there is a significant shortage of industrial property in the Upstate and the Southeast which is creating heightened demand for available sites like those available in Augusta Grove. Greenville County is South Carolina’s largest County, and second in per capita income. The Greenville/Spartanburg market of South Carolina’s Upstate, with close to 200 million square feet of existing buildings, has seen impressive growth and is becoming well known across the country and the world as a highly rated place to live and work. As reported by CoStar, the area’s steady industrial demand is validated by its current vacancy rate of 6.9%, down from nearly 11% in 2009.
“There is a lack of developable industrial property and no remaining land available in existing industrial parks in Greenville County. There are a limited number of available spec industrial facilities in Greenville and those that have been built during this recent cycle have leased quickly,” commented Grice Hunt, Industrial Broker and Shareholder with NAI Earle Furman.
Grice Hunt, who will be leading the sales brokerage team for NAI Earle Furman added, “We are encouraged by our initial activity – the new improvements together with our marketing, sales and development team are creating an overall enhanced appeal for Augusta Grove, generating not only returns to the ownership, but creating additional jobs and advancing the economic base of the County while providing an ever increasing quality work environment for employees.”
Now that the transaction has closed, the new ownership is working quickly to visually transition the park to Augusta Grove. The new signage and landscaping upgrades will be installed this fall. The lighting plan and other infrastructure upgrades will continue into 2017. With several key prospects in the works, look for more announcements to follow.
About Augusta Grove – A Greenville SC Business Park: Augusta Grove is the premier industrial and business park in Upstate, South Carolina. Strategically located in southern Greenville County’s “Hub of Industry” along the I-85 corridor halfway between Atlanta and Charlotte, Augusta Grove offers world-class industry leaders like GE Aviation, KI Logistics, Magna, JTEKT, and more all the advantages of a master-planned business park with convenient proximity to major interstates. For more information, visit www.AugustaGrove.com
About NAI Earle Furman: Based in Upstate South Carolina, NAI Earle Furman is a leading full-service commercial real estate firm specializing in the office, industrial, investment, retail, multifamily, healthcare and land sectors. With more than 80 employees across its Greenville, Anderson and Spartanburg offices, NAI Earle Furman is the largest commercial real estate firm in the Upstate region. They offer a wide range of services including sales, Ieasing, development, site selection, consulting, and property management.
About TPA Group: Formed through the merger of two of Atlanta’s most respected real estate firms and with a combined 135 years of experience, TPA Group is a private real estate investment, acquisitions, and development firm whose principals have acquired and developed in excess of 25 million square feet and 27,000 acres – all valued at more than $5 billion.
With a portfolio of master planned developments, TPA Group has unsurpassed knowledge of the critical elements and stakeholders necessary to ensure success. For more information, visit www.TPA-Grp.com.
About Appian Investments: Appian Investments is a Greenville-based private real estate investment group focused on identifying and structuring unique investment opportunities that create value for its investors and partners. The group targets industrial, office, flex and retail properties primarily in the Upstate and other South Carolina markets.
