A Spartanburg flex industrial turnaround — value nearly doubled in under two years.
How disciplined underwriting and a contrarian lease-up took an under-managed, below-market flex industrial asset to 100% leased above pro forma, and a successful exit in under 24 months.
Deal Snapshot
| Asset | ~48,360 SF small-bay flex industrial, six suites. |
| Location | Spartanburg, SC |
| Acquired | November 2023 — $1,850,000, all-cash, off-market |
| Sold | August 2025 — $3,575,000, to an out-of-state 1031 exchange buyer |
| Hold period | ~21 months |
| Capital invested | ~$285,000 in targeted improvements |
| Rent uplift | Achieved rents 59% above the ~$4.00/SF in place at acquisition |
| Outcome | 100% leased, every lease above underwriting; value nearly doubled |
The Opportunity: An Under-Managed Spartanburg Flex Asset
111 Belton came to us off-market, through a local relationship. The kind of deal that rarely reaches a broad marketing process.
On paper, it was a stable six-bay flex building. In reality, it was under-managed: in-place rents sat near $4.00/SF, one tenancy was delinquent, and the property’s curb appeal had been neglected. It was priced on its in-place income, which meant the upside was sitting in plain sight for an operator willing to do the work.
It also sat in a niche we know well. Small-bay flex industrial, blended warehouse-and-office space for light manufacturers, distributors, and service businesses – a deep, durable demand across Upstate South Carolina with very little new supply.
Tenants need this product, and there isn’t much of it.
The Strategy
Most owners would have protected occupancy and nudged rents gently. We did the opposite.
The original underwriting on this asset assumed holding 100% occupancy at roughly $4.00/SF, stepping to $5.00/SF over time. Our thesis was that the market would support meaningfully more, and that the long-term value of true market-rate leases was worth more than the short-term cash flow we’d give up to get there.
So we made a deliberate, contrarian call: mark every suite to market, even where that meant creating temporary vacancy.
Discipline over optics.
We were willing to trade near-term income for a stabilized rent roll built on durable, market-rate leases.
The Execution
We worked the building suite by suite:
- Engaged every tenant first and understood their long-term plans, then structured renewals and turnovers around them.
- Removed a non-performing tenancy and brought those bays back to the market.
- Invested ~$285,000 in targeted improvements including a spec-built turnkey office space to attract quality tenants quickly, plus selective upfits where they unlocked higher rents.
- Refreshed curb appeal: cleared the rear loading yard, removed dead landscaping, and replanted the frontage.
- Re-leased to a strong flex tenant mix: light manufacturing, distribution, parts, and service users, each needing a blend of warehouse and office space.
At stabilization, every suite was leased well above both the in-place rents and our original underwriting, with several leases carrying built-in annual escalations of 3–5%.
The Result: 100% Leased, Value Nearly Doubled
Within roughly a year of acquisition, 111 Belton was 100% leased — with rents averaging 59% above the ~$4.00/SF in place at acquisition and well beyond our own underwriting.
With the asset fully stabilized, we ran a competitive sale process and exited to an out-of-state 1031 exchange buyer in August 2025.
Purchase to sale: $1,850,000 → $3,575,000 — value nearly doubled in under two years.
Why It Matters
111 Belton is a clear window into how Clear Mountain Properties operates: rigorous underwriting, the conviction to act against the grain when the numbers support it, and the hands-on execution to see a repositioning through.
It’s also a repeatable playbook in a market we know deeply — the Upstate’s small-bay flex-industrial niche, where durable tenant demand meets limited supply. We continue to source opportunities like this one.
Interested in how CMP identifies and executes value-add opportunities across the Upstate?
Get in touch to learn about current opportunities.
