Distributor follows NJ's owner-occupied trend.

Waitex, a third-party logistics firm specializing in warehouse and distribution for the apparel industry, has purchased 1800 Lower Road in Linden, N.J., from The Darby Corporation for more than $21 million, announced Steve Elman of Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey Inc. in East Rutherford.

The 386,000 s/f warehouse/distribution property originally was built for Huffman-Koos in 1974.

With the purchase of 1800 Lower Road, Waitex now owns 10 state-of-the-art warehouse facilities on the East and West coasts, totaling more than three million square feet of space. Waitex's real estate portfolio also includes a Manhattan office building that houses its executive offices, computer support and client service operations, and Waitex Apparel Group showrooms.

According to Elman, who arranged the sale on behalf of The Darby Corporation with Cushman & Wakefield's Stan Danzig and Jules Nissim, Waitex's purchase of 1800 Lower Road reflects a regional uptick in owner-occupied sales during 2005.

"Waitex is a real-estate savvy company, and as such its executive team recognizes the longterm advantages of investing in the buildings it occupies," he said. "In light of this, we have seen a trend toward more owner-occupied purchases in the New Jersey market this year, reflecting the appeal of the state's strong real estate fundamentals.

"Our supply chain logistics business continues to grow, especially for consumer product imports from China, India and Pakistan," said Howard Li, Waitex's chairman and chief executive officer. "In addition to meeting our warehouse space needs, real estate has been a good investment source for us. As we gain more business from new and existing clients, we will continue to look for opportunities to buy distribution centers to accommodate our expansion."

Elman noted that 1800 Lower Road's prime port location--where properties with excess parking are in particularly high demand--made it a highly appealing purchase opportunity for Waitex. "The offering of 1800 Lower Road drew tremendous interest, and we received more than one dozen offers," he said. "The building has only had one tenant in its history, and its structure was ahead of its time--featuring 36-foot clear ceilings and great parking capacity."

"The building works well for us because it is so near to our offices in Manhattan," Li added.

Located on 18 acres, the property includes a 60,000 s/f retail store, which formerly served as an outlet center for Huffman-Koos. Waitex will market the retail store component for lease to a retail tenant.

Mark Tannen of CBRE represented Waitex in the purchase.