Venture One Buys 422 KSF Metro Chicago Industrial Portfolio

Zilber Property Group sold the assets.

Aerial shots of four of the five Chicago-area properties purchased in a portfolio deal by Venture One Real Estate
The portfolio also includes the facility at 1331 Davis Road in Elgin, Ill. Image courtesy of Venture One Real Estate

Venture One Real Estate has purchased a five-building, 421,638-square-foot industrial portfolio through its VK Industrial VII acquisition fund. Zilber Property Group previously owned the five facilities throughout metro Chicago, according to CommercialEdge data.

In February, Venture One set out to raise $300 million for its seventh industrial fund, SEC filings show. Kovitz Investment Group is a co-sponsor of the investment vehicle. This portfolio acquisition is among the first to use proceeds from VK Industrial VII. Its previous industrial fundraiser had set its goal at $250 million, the same source shows.


READ ALSO: First-Half Investor Darlings


CBRE Vice Chairmen Zach Graham, Ryan Bain and Michael Caprile alongside Vice President Joe Horrigan represented the seller in the transaction.

Comprising single- and multi-tenant facilities, the portfolio was fully leased to 13 tenants at the time of the acquisition. The buildings range from 37,174 to 154,335 square feet with units between 7,953 and 84,373 square feet.

The largest of the five assets is in Northbrook, Ill. The 154,335-square-foot facility came online in 1974. Features include 24-foot clear heights, 40- by 40-foot column spacing, as well as a 120-foot truck court and 187 parking spaces.

Located in Mokena, Elgin, Willowbrook, Ill., and Northbrook, the facilities are within an average of 31 miles from downtown Chicago, as well as some 27 and 35 miles from the Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the Illinois International Port District, respectively.

Venture One’s industrial acquisition funds

Venture One utilizes discretionary funds to source, acquire and operate industrial assets. It mainly targets the Chicago metro, the Northeast U.S. and Florida regions. The investment vehicle closes transactions with cash and no financing contingencies.

The company completed another Chicago-area purchase earlier this year, acquiring a 785,181-square-foot industrial portfolio in St. Charles, Ill., for $50.2 million. Venture One utilized funds from VK Industrial VI and secured a $30.4 million loan from Lake Forest Bank & Trust.

Chicago’s industrial pipeline drops year-over-year

Year-to-date through June, investors traded 10.8 million square feet throughout metro Chicago, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. This was a 2.4 percent decrease year-over-year.

Industrial completions in The Windy City dropped 34.3 percent year-over-year, to 7.5 million square feet year-to-date through June. The metro had 12 million square feet under construction, down 54.5 percent year-over-year, the same source shows.

Of Chicago’s industrial deliveries this year, 4.8 million square feet—63.8 percent—were in speculative projects with only a 6.7 percent prelease rate, Cushman & Wakefield’s report reveals. This contributed to a higher vacancy rate in June, which clocked in at 4.5 percent—a 90-basis point increase year-over-year.