Fundrise acquires distribution center leased to PepsiCo

Online investment platform Fundrise (a Real Estate Investment Trust) has acquired a new class-A distribution center with an in-place lease to PepsiCo. in Capitol Heights, Md, for roughly $7.8 million. The property is located less than 30 minutes from downtown Washington, D.C., directly inside the Capital Beltway.

Completed last year, the building was specifically designed for Frito-Lay (a division of PepsiCo) to utilize as a last-mile distribution facility serving its customers in the national capital region.

A last-mile distribution center, also referred to as a terminal building or sorting center, acts as a handoff point to connect 18-wheeler trucks, which typically carry goods in bulk across longer distances, with the smaller vehicles that make the final leg of the journey to drop off packages at individual homes and businesses.

While it’s critical that these types of facilities are located close to major population centers and easily accessible to the major highways, the availability of industrial zoned land that meets this criteria (generally speaking) is in increasingly short supply, which Fundrise believes will help drive long-term values.

The property was completed as a “build-to-suit” for PepsiCo, meaning that the location was selected by the company based on its attributes, and then the building itself was specifically designed in collaboration with the company to meet the exact specifications of its business needs. Although, unlike many e-commerce companies, Pepsi/Frito-Lay primarily delivers to small businesses, the company recently announced it was launching Snacks.com, a new direct-to-consumer business to offer customers “another way to purchase products they love” and have them “delivered directly to their door.”

“PepsiCo is the sole tenant at the property and, as of our acquisition on June 1, had nine years remaining on their initial lease term with multiple options to extend,” Fundrise said on Thursday. “Our goal is to earn regular rental income from the property and then eventually to sell it for more than we spent on the acquisition."

Video: U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon refueling over Poland

A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon approaches a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, to be refueled during Exercise Baltic Operations, over Poland, June 9.

Video: First Super Hornet Block III test jet

Watch the first flight of the first Super Hornet Block III test jet. These F-18 test jets – equipped with improved communications systems and a 10-by-19-inch touchscreen display – will help U.S. Navy pilots familiarize themselves with the updated jets and be used in carrier flight tests.

Bell Boeing team delivers 400th V-22 aircraft

The Bell Boeing V-22 team recently delivered its 400^th aircraft, a CV-22 for U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command.

The first production V-22 was delivered on May 24, 1999, and Wednesday's deliveries occur under the Multi-year Procurement III contract valued at $5 billion. That agreement, which runs through 2024, includes variants for the Marines, Air Force, and Navy, as well as the first international customer, Japan.

The V-22 takes off, hovers, and lands like a helicopter yet flies long distances like a turboprop aircraft. The CV-22 variant performs special operations missions, including infiltration, extraction, and resupply, that conventional aircraft can’t. The Marine Corps variant, the MV-22B, provides the safe and reliable transportation of personnel, supplies, and equipment for combat assault, assault support, and fleet logistics. The Navy variant, the CMV-22B, is the replacement for the C-2A Greyhound for the carrier onboard delivery mission.

The V-22 has accumulated more than 500,000 flight hours.

Video: Hughes demonstrates live video transmission over satellite from Black Hawk helicopter

Hughes Network Systems, LLC, the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, announced Tuesday the successful in-flight demonstration of Hughes HeloSat satellite communications from a Black Hawk helicopter. The HeloSat solution transmitted consistent, real-time, full-motion video to a live global audience from the Black Hawk as it surveilled the Tennessee landscape on May 21.

"Customers from as far away as Spain, India and the United Arab Emirates watched the Hughes HeloSat demonstration in Tennessee via livestream,“ said Wayne Marhefka, senior director, Hughes Defense. "This flight validates the Hughes HeloSat capability to support missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, search and rescue, emergency response and airborne command aboard rotary aircraft like the Black Hawk."

HeloSat maintained the live-stream video feed throughout the 30-minute flight. HeloSat has been tested on more than a dozen different types of rotary-wing aircraft.