Net lease real estate investment trust W. P. Carey has completed a sale-leaseback involving a 43-property manufacturing portfolio with GardenCore, the newly rebranded successor to Oldcastle Lawn & Garden. The transaction, reported at $400 million, involves a nationwide portfolio serving GardenCore, which is described as a leading U.S. producer of lawn and garden consumable products. The deal comes on the heels of Pacific Avenue Capital Partners’ $1.1 billion acquisition of GardenCore through a corporate carve-out of CRH’s packaged mulch, soil and stone business.
The properties in the portfolio are spread across 24 states and are subject to a triple-net, master lease structure. The lease runs for 20 years and includes fixed annual rent increases, providing W. P. Carey with long-term, contractually growing cash flows. The portfolio represents all of GardenCore’s owned real estate, underscoring the importance of these facilities to the company’s manufacturing and distribution platform. At the time of W. P. Carey’s investment, GardenCore ranked among the REIT’s 10 largest tenants based on annual base rent, highlighting the scale of the relationship within the broader W. P. Carey portfolio.
The sale-leaseback structure allows GardenCore, under its new private equity ownership, to unlock capital tied up in its real estate while retaining operational control of its manufacturing sites through long-term leases. For W. P. Carey, the transaction aligns with its focus on mission-critical, net-leased industrial and manufacturing assets backed by durable tenant credit and long lease terms. The triple-net nature of the leases places responsibility for taxes, insurance and maintenance on the tenant, limiting landlord operating exposure and supporting predictable income streams over the 20-year term.
Jason Patterson, executive director of investments at W. P. Carey, noted that the GardenCore transaction required significant coordination across a large, multi-state portfolio and emphasized the REIT’s capability to underwrite and structure complex sale-leaseback deals efficiently. He pointed to the need for flexible structuring and the capacity to deploy substantial capital across numerous mission-critical facilities in a compressed timeframe. Patterson also tied the deal to an uptick in broader merger-and-acquisition activity, suggesting that similar private equity-backed corporate carve-outs may increasingly turn to sale-leaseback strategies to monetize real estate holdings as part of transaction financing or post-acquisition recapitalization.
The GardenCore portfolio underscores the continuing role of net-lease REITs in providing capital solutions to operating companies and financial sponsors seeking to redeploy funds into core business operations. By acquiring the portfolio and entering into long-term leases, W. P. Carey expands its exposure to the U.S. manufacturing and consumer products supply chain, while GardenCore and its new ownership gain liquidity without disrupting occupancy at critical facilities. The transaction illustrates how large-scale, single-tenant industrial portfolios can serve as a bridge between corporate real estate needs and institutional capital seeking stable, income-oriented investments.
