Arden Group Launches Logistics Operating Platform

Shike Goedar, President & CIO, Arden Logistics Parks. Image courtesy of Arden Logistics Parks

Arden Group has launched Arden Logistics Parks, a logistics real estate operating platform specializing in the acquisition, improvement and management of light industrial business parks across the country.

The new platform is targeting small- and medium-bay multi-tenant warehouses in in-fill urban locations across the U.S., which Arden describes as “an underserved market in the industrial sector with limited new supply and accelerating demand” that’s characterized by “decentralized, local ownership groups.”

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Arden Logistics Parks will function as the consumer-facing brand for Arden Group’s recent joint venture with Arcapita to acquire multi-tenant industrial properties in markets across the country.

The new partnership launched with the acquisition of an industrial portfolio totaling more than 7 million square feet, more than 32 properties and about 1,100 tenants, across nine markets: Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Houston; Indianapolis; Philadelphia; San Antonio and Tampa, Fla. The portfolio reportedly is valued at more than $800 million, which the partners plan to grow to as much as $2 billion in gross asset value.

The Arden Logistics Parks platform is led by President & Chief Investment Officer Shike Goedar and COO Barbara Rea.

Barbara Rea, COO, Arden Logistics Parks. Image courtesy of Arden Logistics Parks

Goedar began working with Arden Group in 2017 to launch the Industrial Platform. Prior to that, he was a member of the U.S. investment team of NorthStar Realty (prior to Colony Capital’s merger in 2017), where he worked on more than $7 billion of real estate transactions.

Before joining Arden, Rea was the COO & founding team member for BKM Capital Partners, a light industrial fund manager with $1.7 billion in assets under management.

Additional executives include Pamela Larin, CFO; Robert Timmons, head of asset management; and Christian Vergilio, director of acquisitions.

Diverse purchases

In March 2020, Arden Group used a two-part, $163 million loan package from CIT Bank and BlackRock in acquiring a 2.1 million-square-foot, 12-property industrial portfolio in several states.

And in one of Florida’s larger office deals early this year, Arden picked up the 140,000-square-foot Advance Tower in South Miami for $36.7 million.