Napa’s single largest parcel of land — 218 acres south of Napa Airport  has sold.

The asking price was $20 million, but neither buyer nor seller would confirm the price paid for the parcel.

Headwaters Development Company of Sacramento and partner RREEF of San Francisco, plan to develop the area for warehouse and distribution — similar to what already exists in south Napa.

Real estate firm Colliers International represented the seller Biagi Wine Estate and the buyer in the deal that closed on Sept. 7.

“The buyers were already aware of the property and aware of the Napa market and one they wanted in, so when the offer came up they went for it pretty quick,” said Bill Kampton, vice president of real estate at Colliers. He was assisted in the deal by Brooks Pedder and Phil Garrett in representing the buyer and seller.

“The bonus of this property is: First, it has rail service and rail is now back in vogue again. Second is the size of the property. They can do something very large on the property. Third, it allows synergy with distribution. That is something Napa does not have right now — a distribution type of center,” said Kampton.“What’s most interesting about this deal is it will be able to grow with the Napa market for a few years to come,” Kampton added.

Doug Pope, a managing member, at Headwaters Development Co. said, “Right now we are in the planning stages ... it will be industrial warehouse primarily.”

He said engineers are looking at the property infrastructures to determine how many and the size of buildings to be erected on the 218 acres.

“It would be speculative to say how many buildings (will be built) on the property right now. We want a project that flows well,” Pope added.

The buildings will likely range from 50,000 square feet to 400,000 square feet. Pope said the customer base for the business park will primarily be related to the wine industry.

Why the attraction to this parcel?

“There is a very limited amount of industrial land in Napa County ... and as congestion increases, having warehouses closer to production becomes more important. And the site has rail and that is helpful — it gives you another way to move goods in and out of the area,” Pope said. Pope envisions having something to show the county within six months. “If things go normal, it can be anywhere from 18 months to two years before breaking ground.”

“We are excited. It is a great location. You have a limited supply and there is a need for warehousing in the area, which serves a variety of needs — not only wine, but all the businesses that go with it,” Pope said. “Existing (warehouse) facilities are rapidly filling up. So by the time we are ready to deliver buildings to the market most of the existing stuff will be absorbed,” Pope said.

Originally Biagi Wine Estates, owner of the land, and Foster’s Wine Estate had planned to partner to develop the parcel into a 1.4 million-square-foot wine bottling and warehouse distribution complex.

Foster’s however decided against pursuing its partnership with Biagi and opted to consolidate it bottling facilities to 655 Airpark Road in a 150,000 square foot warehouse.