Logos Buys Newly Built Warehouse as Company’s Second Asset in South Korea

Logos has acquired a newly built logistics facility in Greater Seoul for an undisclosed price, adding a second asset to the industrial specialist’s portfolio in South Korea.

Known as Logos Yeoju Logistics Center, the fully dry warehouse is located along National Route 3 to the southeast of Seoul in Gyeonggi province, the company said in a release. Sydney-based Logos, a unit of Hong Kong-listed ESR, has secured a lease for a “substantial portion” of the 42,500 square metre (457,466 square foot) facility with one of Korea’s largest third-party logistics companies.

The property’s seller is understood to be a local developer. Last year Logos acquired its first Korean asset, an ambient and cold storage facility in Greater Seoul, under a $200 million forward purchase deal alongside a joint venture partner, Canadian finance giant Manulife.

“We continue to see strong demand from our regional and domestic tenant relationships for quality, well-located facilities in the Korea logistics market, and our lease is a testament to the strength of this asset,” said Logos Korea head Sung Park.

More Deals Planned

Logos Yeoju Logistics Center features four warehousing floors and additional mezzanine office space. The property targets LEED Gold certification, in line with ESG initiatives across the Logos portfolio, and is expected to be one of a few LEED-certified logistics facilities in the country.

“We see the current market to be a unique opportunity to invest into logistics real estate in Korea,” Park said. “Logos is actively exploring opportunities to acquire additional quality assets and development land parcels in key logistics markets across Korea to support our customers.”

In August of last year, Logos and Manulife revealed their acquisition of Logos Siheung Logistics Centre as the seed asset of a Korean core joint venture, with an ESR-Logos private fund, Pan Asia Core+ Venture, also investing in the shed. The property, located in the Banwol-Sihwa National Industrial Complex southwest of the capital in Gyeonggi province, will provide 100,000 square metres of gross floor area upon completion in early 2024, the partners said.

Logos previously teamed with Manulife to acquire a newly built logistics asset northeast of Ho Chi Minh City in a deal announced in February of last year.

Gyeonggi Grabs Spotlight

Global asset managers searching for sheds have found much to like in Gyeonggi province, which surrounds Seoul, with LaSalle Investment Management in June announcing the acquisition of two warehouses in Icheon on behalf of a Korean logistics joint venture between the firm and an unnamed Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund.

Situated in the southeastern corner of Greater Seoul, the warehouses are run by LaSalle’s Logiport logistics arm and have a combined gross floor area of 53,942 square metres. They are 65 percent occupied and are anchor-tenanted under a long-term lease by one of the largest third-party logistics operators in South Korea.

In May, ESR Kendall Square REIT acquired an Icheon logistics park for $96 million, bringing the number of assets in the Korea-listed trust to 18. The six-storey Icheon Logistics Park 7 added 46,041 square metres of cold and room-temperature logistics space to the portfolio.