Photo courtesy of JLL

A Gardner-based food packaging company leased back its property from a Philadelphia real estate investor following a $9.6 million transaction.

JLL represented Garlock Flexibles in the sale-leaseback with Valley Forge Private Equity.

Owned by Astara Capital Partners, Garlock Flexibles currently occupies the 113,000-square-foot building and will lease the property on a long-term basis, JLL announced. The company specializes in packaging materials for food products such as salad mixes and seafood.

The single-story building at 77 Industrial Rowe was originally developed in 1959 and expanded in 2004.

Industrial rents on the Route 2 corridor have increased 8.5 percent in the past year, influenced by an absence of new supply and lack of major development, according to JLL research.

JLL Senior Director Lenny Pierce and Associate David Coffman represented Garlock Flexibles in the transaction.

“The sale-leaseback is a hugely compelling liquidity source for most corporate owner-occupiers of commercial real estate – especially in the industrial sector,” Pierce said in a statement. “Cap rates for warehouse, logistics and manufacturing assets remain dramatically lower than many other capital costs available to operators in this sector of the economy, and for many groups, the funds generated from this transaction are deployed to more fruitful avenues such as investing in new machinery, expanding workforces, or extinguishing corporate level debt.”