CapRock Partners Acquires 85 Acres for New 1.48-MSF Industrial Development in North Las Vegas
Leading firm brings regional expertise to expand footprint into desirable Apex industrial submarket; underway in developing new largescale LEED-certified warehouse facility
Leading Western and Central U.S. industrial real estate investor, developer and asset manager, CapRock Partners, today announced its acquisition of 85 acres of unimproved land in North Las Vegas for the future development of CapRock Highlander Logistics Center, a new Class A, LEED-certified logistics complex comprised of two freestanding warehouse buildings totaling approximately 1.48 million square feet.
CapRock entitled the site during a prolonged escrow and then acquired the property off-market from a private seller. Terms of the deal are not disclosed. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024 with completion anticipated in 2025.
“Demand for big box industrial space in North Las Vegas remains strong and this Apex property is one of the best-located remaining undeveloped sites in the submarket that can accommodate a building over one million square feet,” said Taylor Arnett, first vice president, acquisitions at CapRock Partners. “CapRock brings significant experience building institutional investment-level industrial warehouse assets in North Las Vegas to this new development. Following several successful completions and dispositions in Las Vegas in 2023, our team is excited to continue its momentum by bringing a future-forward logistics complex to the growing Apex industrial submarket.”
CapRock is one of the most active developers of state-of-the-art industrial property in Las Vegas. The firm has completed eleven buildings totaling approximately 2.6 million square feet of distribution and logistics space since 2021 in Las Vegas alone. In 2023, the firm will be under construction or have recently delivered more than 7 million square feet of Class A industrial space in key markets throughout the Western and Central U.S.
“CapRock is well-capitalized and positioned for continued growth. We closed this transaction on an all-cash basis, a unique capability in today’s challenging economic environment where many developers are grappling with a lack of equity and debt financing,” added Arnett. “CapRock is moving forward with speculative development plans for CapRock Highlander Logistics Center, and we will also accommodate a built-to-suit for a strong credit tenant.”
The 85-acre CapRock Highlander Logistics Center site is located within North Las Vegas’ Apex submarket, west of Interstate 15 with direct access via the Las Vegas Blvd. N. (Highway 91) on/offramp. The site is west of the Las Vegas Blvd. and Nadine Petersen Boulevard intersection. It is approximately 25 miles to downtown Las Vegas and approximately 30 miles to Harry Reid International Airport.
At completion, CapRock Highlander Logistics Center will offer a modern design, institutional-level construction, and a site configuration suitable for distribution and logistics-related uses. The buildings will feature 40-foot clear heights, excess land for an outsized number of trailer and parking stalls, drive around capability, and private concrete yards and truck courts.
Projected plans for the larger building consist of approximately 1,018,800 square feet and include 164 dock-high doors, four ground-level doors and speculative office space. The smaller building will consist of approximately 460,800 square feet and include 82 dock-high doors, four ground-level doors and speculative office space.
“CapRock Partners continues to focus on expanding its portfolio across key logistics markets, leveraging its deep industry knowledge, and forging strong relationships with tenants and investors,” added Patrick Daniels, co-founder and chief executive officer at CapRock Partners. "We are dedicated to our strategy of acquiring and developing best-in-class properties that generate strong returns for our investors and contribute to the economic development of the communities in which we operate."
The Las Vegas industrial real estate market is experiencing sustained rental rate increases and low vacancies. As of Q2 2023, the overall vacancy rate for industrial property in Las Vegas was 2.5%, according to Cushman & Wakefield, while the North Las Vegas submarket vacancy rate was 1.9%. The Apex industrial submarket continues to gain momentum, supported by the increasing number of significant corporate users who are committing to space in the area. Corporate neighbors in the North Las Vegas submarket include high-quality corporations such as Croc’s, Kroeger, Air Liquide, Ball Corp, Amazon, Fed Ex, Fanatics, DHL, UPS, Penske, Lowes, Sephora, Packaging Corporation of America, and Moen.
CapRock was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Las Vegas industrial team, Donna Alderson, Greg Tassi, and Nick Abraham, in the transaction. Will Strong and Kirk Kuller of Cushman & Wakefield’s National Industrial Advisory Group – Mountain West represented CapRock in the asset’s equity financing.
ABOUT CAPROCK PARTNERS
Founded in 2009 in Newport Beach, Calif., CapRock Partners is a privately owned investor and developer of industrial real estate in the Western and Central United States. With approximately $2.9 billion of assets under management or advisement as of June 30, 2023, the company specializes in acquiring middle-market value-add industrial assets, developing large-scale institutional-quality Class A industrial warehouse facilities in key locations, and providing third-party asset management services for institutional investors. The firm is actively acquiring land for development and middle market value-add assets across the Western and Central U.S. Since inception, its total investment and development pipeline exceeds 30 million square feet of industrial real estate. For more information, visit www.caprock-partners.com. Follow the company on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Container traffic is finally back to typical levels at the port of Montreal, two months after dockworkers returned to work following a strike, port officials said Thursday.
Today that arbitration continues as the two sides work to forge a new contract. And port leaders with the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) are reminding workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) that the CIRB decision “rules out any pressure tactics affecting operations until the next collective agreement expires.”
The Port of Montreal alone said it had to manage a backlog of about 13,350 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) on the ground, as well as 28,000 feet of freight cars headed for export.
Port leaders this week said they had now completed that task. “Two months after operations fully resumed at the Port of Montreal, as directed by the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) is pleased to announce that all port activities are now completely back to normal. Both the impact of the labour dispute and the subsequent resumption of activities required concerted efforts on the part of all port partners to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, even over the holiday season,” the port said in a release.
The “2024 Year in Review” report lists the various transportation delays, freight volume restrictions, and infrastructure repair costs of a long string of events. Those disruptions include labor strikes at Canadian ports and postal sites, the U.S. East and Gulf coast port strike; hurricanes Helene, Francine, and Milton; the Francis Scott key Bridge collapse in Baltimore Harbor; the CrowdStrike cyber attack; and Red Sea missile attacks on passing cargo ships.
“While 2024 was characterized by frequent and overlapping disruptions that exposed many supply chain vulnerabilities, it was also a year of resilience,” the Project44 report said. “From labor strikes and natural disasters to geopolitical tensions, each event served as a critical learning opportunity, underscoring the necessity for robust contingency planning, effective labor relations, and durable infrastructure. As supply chains continue to evolve, the lessons learned this past year highlight the increased importance of proactive measures and collaborative efforts. These strategies are essential to fostering stability and adaptability in a world where unpredictability is becoming the norm.”
In addition to tallying the supply chain impact of those events, the report also made four broad predictions for trends in 2025 that may affect logistics operations. In Project44’s analysis, they include:
More technology and automation will be introduced into supply chains, particularly ports. This will help make operations more efficient but also increase the risk of cybersecurity attacks and service interruptions due to glitches and bugs. This could also add tensions among the labor pool and unions, who do not want jobs to be replaced with automation.
The new administration in the United States introduces a lot of uncertainty, with talks of major tariffs for numerous countries as well as talks of US freight getting preferential treatment through the Panama Canal. If these things do come to fruition, expect to see shifts in global trade patterns and sourcing.
Natural disasters will continue to become more frequent and more severe, as exhibited by the wildfires in Los Angeles and the winter storms throughout the southern states in the U.S. As a result, expect companies to invest more heavily in sustainability to mitigate climate change.
The peace treaty announced on Wednesday between Isael and Hamas in the Middle East could support increased freight volumes returning to the Suez Canal as political crisis in the area are resolved.
The French transportation visibility provider Shippeo today said it has raised $30 million in financial backing, saying the money will support its accelerated expansion across North America and APAC, while driving enhancements to its “Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platform” product.
The funding round was led by Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth fund, with participation from existing investors: Battery Ventures, Partech, NGP Capital, Bpifrance Digital Venture, LFX Venture Partners, Shift4Good and Yamaha Motor Ventures. With this round, Shippeo’s total funding exceeds $140 million.
Shippeo says it offers real-time shipment tracking across all transport modes, helping companies create sustainable, resilient supply chains. Its platform enables users to reduce logistics-related carbon emissions by making informed trade-offs between modes and carriers based on carbon footprint data.
"Global supply chains are facing unprecedented complexity, and real-time transport visibility is essential for building resilience” Prashant Bothra, Principal at Woven Capital, who is joining the Shippeo board, said in a release. “Shippeo’s platform empowers businesses to proactively address disruptions by transforming fragmented operations into streamlined, data-driven processes across all transport modes, offering precise tracking and predictive ETAs at scale—capabilities that would be resource-intensive to develop in-house. We are excited to support Shippeo’s journey to accelerate digitization while enhancing cost efficiency, planning accuracy, and customer experience across the supply chain.”
Donald Trump has been clear that he plans to hit the ground running after his inauguration on January 20, launching ambitious plans that could have significant repercussions for global supply chains.
As Mark Baxa, CSCMP president and CEO, says in the executive forward to the white paper, the incoming Trump Administration and a majority Republican congress are “poised to reshape trade policies, regulatory frameworks, and the very fabric of how we approach global commerce.”
The paper is written by import/export expert Thomas Cook, managing director for Blue Tiger International, a U.S.-based supply chain management consulting company that focuses on international trade. Cook is the former CEO of American River International in New York and Apex Global Logistics Supply Chain Operation in Los Angeles and has written 19 books on global trade.
In the paper, Cook, of course, takes a close look at tariff implications and new trade deals, emphasizing that Trump will seek revisions that will favor U.S. businesses and encourage manufacturing to return to the U.S. The paper, however, also looks beyond global trade to addresses topics such as Trump’s tougher stance on immigration and the possibility of mass deportations, greater support of Israel in the Middle East, proposals for increased energy production and mining, and intent to end the war in the Ukraine.
In general, Cook believes that many of the administration’s new policies will be beneficial to the overall economy. He does warn, however, that some policies will be disruptive and add risk and cost to global supply chains.
In light of those risks and possible disruptions, Cook’s paper offers 14 recommendations. Some of which include:
Create a team responsible for studying the changes Trump will introduce when he takes office;
Attend trade shows and make connections with vendors, suppliers, and service providers who can help you navigate those changes;
Consider becoming C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) certified to help mitigate potential import/export issues;
Adopt a risk management mindset and shift from focusing on lowest cost to best value for your spend;
Increase collaboration with internal and external partners;
Expect warehousing costs to rise in the short term as companies look to bring in foreign-made goods ahead of tariffs;
Expect greater scrutiny from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol of origin statements for imports in recognition of attempts by some Chinese manufacturers to evade U.S. import policies;
Reduce dependency on China for sourcing; and
Consider manufacturing and/or sourcing in the United States.
Cook advises readers to expect a loosening up of regulations and a reduction in government under Trump. He warns that while some world leaders will look to work with Trump, others will take more of a defiant stance. As a result, companies should expect to see retaliatory tariffs and duties on exports.
Cook concludes by offering advice to the incoming administration, including being sensitive to the effect retaliatory tariffs can have on American exports, working on federal debt reduction, and considering promoting free trade zones. He also proposes an ambitious water works program through the Army Corps of Engineers.
ReposiTrak, a global food traceability network operator, will partner with Upshop, a provider of store operations technology for food retailers, to create an end-to-end grocery traceability solution that reaches from the supply chain to the retail store, the firms said today.
The partnership creates a data connection between suppliers and the retail store. It works by integrating Salt Lake City-based ReposiTrak’s network of thousands of suppliers and their traceability shipment data with Austin, Texas-based Upshop’s network of more than 450 retailers and their retail stores.
That accomplishment is important because it will allow food sector trading partners to meet the U.S. FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act Section 204d (FSMA 204) requirements that they must create and store complete traceability records for certain foods.
And according to ReposiTrak and Upshop, the traceability solution may also unlock potential business benefits. It could do that by creating margin and growth opportunities in stores by connecting supply chain data with store data, thus allowing users to optimize inventory, labor, and customer experience management automation.
"Traceability requires data from the supply chain and – importantly – confirmation at the retail store that the proper and accurate lot code data from each shipment has been captured when the product is received. The missing piece for us has been the supply chain data. ReposiTrak is the leader in capturing and managing supply chain data, starting at the suppliers. Together, we can deliver a single, comprehensive traceability solution," Mark Hawthorne, chief innovation and strategy officer at Upshop, said in a release.
"Once the data is flowing the benefits are compounding. Traceability data can be used to improve food safety, reduce invoice discrepancies, and identify ways to reduce waste and improve efficiencies throughout the store,” Hawthorne said.
Under FSMA 204, retailers are required by law to track Key Data Elements (KDEs) to the store-level for every shipment containing high-risk food items from the Food Traceability List (FTL). ReposiTrak and Upshop say that major industry retailers have made public commitments to traceability, announcing programs that require more traceability data for all food product on a faster timeline. The efforts of those retailers have activated the industry, motivating others to institute traceability programs now, ahead of the FDA’s enforcement deadline of January 20, 2026.