Brookfield Buys 15 MSF Light Industrial Portfolio

July 15, 2024

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The properties span 20 markets, including Atlanta, Dallas and Houston.

Bartlett, Ill., warehouse, Brookfield — Brewster Creek Business Park – 1452, a 260,075-square-foot industrial facility located in Bartlett, Ill., that Brookfield acquired as part of the purchase. According to DRA Advisors, the portfolio contains 12 properties in the Chicago area, totaling roughly 1.4 million square feet. *Image courtesy of Brookfield*

Brookfield Asset Management has completed the acquisition of a 128-property, 14.6-million-square-foot portfolio of infill light industrial assets from funds overseen by DRA Advisors. According to Green Street News, the multinational investor won the deal back in June after bidding closest to the portfolio’s sought-after price.

The portfolio, which was marketed by Eastdil Secured, spans 20 different markets, with most of the facilities located in the Sun Belt. Others are in the Northeast and Midwest.

A separate report from Green Street states that the cities in the portfolio with the largest numbers of properties include Atlanta, with 18 properties, Dallas, with 16 properties, Houston, with 17 properties and Memphis, Tenn., with 12 properties. Columbus, Ohio, took up the top spot for square footage, with Brookfield now under ownership of nearly 2.3 million square feet of space around the city.

According to Law360, the purchase price was $1.3 billion, and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP provided counsel to Brookfield. DRA Advisors’ legal guidance came from Blank Rome LLP, while Dechert LLP represented the deals’ financiers.

The Green Street report states that competitors included EQT Exeter, which has spent more than $500 million this year for industrial acquisitions in Baltimore, Washington D.C., Phoenix and the Inland Empire.

Brookfield did not respond immediately to CPE’s request for comment.

Plans for the portfolio

Following the acquisition, Brookfield intends to vertically integrate the portfolio alongside its in-house global logistics platform, which spans 425 properties and 150 million square feet spread over more than nine countries.

The firm also plans to invest in capital improvements programs for the assets, with focuses on energy efficiency and sustainability, as well as employee and tenant safety.

For its own part, Brookfield has been an active CRE investor this year, particularly on the office front. Last month, the investor refinanced One Liberty Plaza, a 2.3 million-square-foot tower in Manhattan, for $750 million. In January, the firm opened Two Manhattan West, a 58-story high-rise where development cost $1.9 billion.