WILLIAMSPORT — A Washington, D.C., real-estate firm has bought a 70-acre Wright Road property that recently was approved for a proposed warehouse.
Washco Management sold the property to Penzance for $8 million, said Sassan Shaool, a developer with the local Washco Management.
“It’s an exciting project for Washington County,” Shaool said.
The property is west of Hopewell Road and behind a Dot Foods off Elliott Parkway.
While Washco has developed other local projects, it has never developed an industrial tract, Shaool said. Penzance has the resources to make the project happen on an expedited timeline, he said.
The D.C. firm is a “good match and fit” for the project, Sassan said.
JLL Capital Markets, which arranged the sale, announced the deal on Wednesday, highlighting the site’s proximity to the intersection of Interstates 81 and 70 in the “highly sought-after I-81 Industrial Corridor.”
That area is in demand because of its “proximity to four major ports on the East Coast, helping the I-81 Corridor establish itself as a logistics and distribution hub,” according to a JLL news release.
In December, the county’s planning commission approved a site plan for an 825,000-square-foot warehouse at 16220 Wright Road. Such a development could employ more than 200 people, 42 in the office and 165 in the warehouse, a county plan review official said at the time.
JLL worked on behalf of Washco Management and also has been “engaged to source construction financing and lease the property on behalf of the developer, who is planning to begin construction of an 825,000-square-foot Class A distribution building on the site this spring,” according to the JLL release.
Asked whether a tenant is lined up or there are negotiations for one, a JLL Capital Markets spokeswoman emailed that the warehouse is a spec building.
Penzance is a full-serve real-estate firm that has invested more than $2.7 billion in real estate through partnerships since it was founded in 1996, the release states.
Sassan complimented Washington County government officials for their work over the years related to the property and for answering questions from potential developers.
The county, working with the developer and with the help of federal grants, plans to relocate Wright Road between Hopewell Road and a railroad crossing.
That part of Wright Road is in a floodplain and the frequent flooding affects motorists and public safety services, county Engineering Director Scott Hobbs has said.
The road project also will accommodate increased traffic from development in the area.
The work includes building a three-lane closed section (one lane in each direction with a continuous left turn lane) and removing a one-lane culvert in the floodplain.
The $2.75 million road project is in the design phase with construction expected to begin before July, according to Hobbs and the county’s capital improvement plan.
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