ICE Buys 2 More Warehouses, Scuttles Deal With Trammell Crow

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has closed on two more acquisitions of warehouses built for e-commerce that it plans to convert into large-scale detention facilities.

Its acquisition spree — part of a $38.3B push to build out a 92,600-bed, government-owned detention network — has now reached 10 properties, for which it paid more than $800M combined.

One seller's explanation for executing its deal raises the specter that the government is leveraging the threat of eminent domain to get deals across the finish line amid bipartisan pushback over plans to turn industrial properties into large-scale jails.

The Department of Homeland Security paid $68.2M for a warehouse outside of Oakwood, Georgia, according to a deed filed in local property records. The developer, an affiliate of Houston-based Alliance Industrial Co., acquired the site for $2M in December 2024 and landed a three-year, $29.6M construction loan for the project.

Frank Fallon, managing director and head of the Southeast region for Alliance, signed the deed transfer to DHS.

A Carlyle Group fund is also an owner of the building, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the sale's closing.

Development of the property, called the Alliance Oakwood Industrial Park, started last year, according to an April marketing brochure. The project spans two buildings totaling 233K SF. Neither Fallon nor Carlyle Group responded to Bisnow's request for comment.

DHS also purchased a 470K SF warehouse in Roxbury, New Jersey, that was developed by a partnership of Dallas-based Dalfen Industrial and Goldman Sachs.

The price of that deal wasn’t clear as of press time, but the owners secured a $64.4M loan from an affiliate of Walton Street Capital in October 2023 to finance construction of the property, according to Morris County clerk records. The property was most recently assessed at $62.2M, according to local tax records.

“Dalfen Industrial and its majority partner sold the property to the federal government in lieu of the potential of eminent domain,” Dalfen said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. “The company has no involvement in the future use of the facility.”

Dalfen CEO Sean Dalfen didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment. A Goldman Sachs spokesperson confirmed the deal but gave a different reason for the transfer.

“This property, which sat vacant for two years, was held in a real estate investment fund that we manage,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said in a statement. “We had a fiduciary obligation to investors in the fund to sell it.”

Both buildings are expected to be converted into what ICE is calling processing sites, designed to hold up to 1,500 immigrants for short-term stays before they are transferred to a “mega-center” facility for up to 60 days, according to leaked ICE documents outlining the detention center initiative.

An ICE spokesperson said in a statement that the facilities are each expected to generate at least 1,300 jobs and contribute $159M to local gross domestic product.

“These will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards,” the spokesperson said. “Sites undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase.”

Officials in the towns and cities where ICE plans to establish new detention centers have said the government's claims of due diligence and infrastructure preparedness are false.

The Roxbury Township Council, which is made up of all Republicans, unanimously passed a resolution this month opposing an ICE warehouse, CoStar reported. Leaders in Hall County, where the Oakwood building sits, have also balked at the plan, citing an expected loss of $700K in property tax revenue, the AJC reported.

Maryland's attorney general filed a lawsuit this week to block ICE from turning a warehouse it purchased for $102M in the state into a detention center, claiming it violated federal environmental and procurement laws.

Overall, ICE plans to operate eight megacenters nationwide that can hold up to 10,000 immigrants each, plus 16 processing facilities. It is using $38.3B allocated from last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act to acquire, renovate and operate the buildings. It plans for the network to be fully operational by November.

Eight of the 10 warehouses ICE has bought have a known price, with landlords collecting $764.3M total in those deals. Two other sales — in Roxbury and Romulus, Michigan — haven’t yet appeared in property records, but the combined debt on those warehouses was $122.9M, suggesting ICE has paid at least $887M since January for industrial real estate.

While ICE has closed many of these deals, it has pursued other acquisitions only to back away or be rejected. Most recently, a deal that was in the works for Trammell Crow Co. to sell a warehouse in Merrimack, New Hampshire, has fallen through.

New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte — a Republican whose office first publicized ICE's nationwide plan after DHS disclosed its pending deal for the Merrimack building — posted on Facebook on Tuesday that the sale was off.

“I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Homeland Security will not move forward with the proposed ICE facility in Merrimack,” Ayotte wrote.

Trammell Crow didn't respond to a request for comment.

Jarred Schenke contributed reporting.