Drug development, manufacturing and packaging firm Alcami has sold its technology center in Wilmington to a Durham real estate management company in a leaseback deal.

Mattie Equity LLC on Wednesday purchased the property, including about 5 acres and a nearly 71,000-square-foot building at 2320 Scientific Park Drive, for more than $15.7 million, according to the deed and county records. Mattie Equity LLC is managed by Kathleen M. Schneider,  incorporation documents show.

"Alcami recently successfully completed a sale and leaseback agreement for the technology center that houses our state-of-the-art laboratory operations in Wilmington," said Catherine Hanley, vice president of marketing for Alcami, in an email Thursday. "While Alcami no longer owns the structure, we will continue to occupy the building as a long-term tenant.

"This transaction will not impede Alcami’s day-to-day operations, and will enhance the company’s flexibility to reinvest in its business to facilitate future growth."

Hanley said the decision to sell the facility to an investor and lease it back "is part of our long-term growth strategy, and is consistent with our business approach at nearly every other Alcami facility, including our Wilmington drug product packaging center; our Edison, New Jersey, St. Louis, Missouri, and Durham, North Carolina, laboratories; and our Charleston, South Carolina, parenteral manufacturing site."

Lynn Harris, a commercial real estate broker with Wilmington-based Century 21 Sweyer & Associates, said in general, some property owners have been aiming to take advantage of current conditions. Harris was not involved in the Alcami facility transaction.

"The market is really strong right now," she said, adding that planning for retirement or having more location flexibility are also reasons why some commercial property owners might consider selling sooner rather than later.

Another is reinvestment. Sometimes owners want to put capital back into their businesses, "and that's a good way to get it," she said.

Alcami announced in July 2017 that the company was transitioning its global headquarters to Durham from Wilmington, abandoning plans for a major expansion in the Port City. But growth in Wilmington, where Alcami employs at least 400 of its 1,000-person workforce, continues, officials said during an open house in June.