Westmount Realty Capital Buys 1.5 MSF Industrial Portfolio in Chicago

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

It’s called the Premier Chicago Industrial Portfolio, and it now belongs to Westmount Realty Capital L.L.C. The real estate investment and management company just acquired the 1.5 million-square-foot group of assets, sited in spots surrounding O’Hare International Airport from KTR Capital Partners.

Westmount couldn’t resist the Windy City. “It’s a Central Midwest location with great airports and Great Lakes access, a diversified economy and proactive city government,” Cliff Booth, president of Westmount, told Commercial Property Executive. “It’s one of the top industrial markets in the country.”

The Premier Chicago Industrial Portfolio consists of eight assets in in-fill locations: 2401 Lunt Ave. and 801 Chase Ave. in Elk Grove Village; 6100 Howard St. in Niles; 1400-1470 Norwood Ave. in Itasca; 3701-3479 N. 25th Ave. in Schiller Park; 3030 Cullerton St. in Franklin Park; 6700 South Sayre Ave. in Bedford Park; and 4404 W. Ann Lurie Place in Chicago.

The portfolio has the right location–and it has the right occupancy; it’s 97 percent leased to a stable tenant base. Westmount, which relied on NorthMarq capital to arrange debt for the acquisition, plans to focus its efforts on tenant retention and converting below-market in-place leases to market rates. The rental rate in the O’Hare submarket at the close of the third quarter was $4.82 per square-foot, according to a report by Colliers International, which marketed the portfolio on the seller’s behalf.

But Chicago is just one market that is presently on Westmount’s radar. The company is also targeting the Southeast and Texas, and on the West Coast, it has its eye on California, Reno and Salt Lake City.

“We’re optimistic about the economy and buying opportunities for us in 2014,” Booth added. “Our portfolio is performing well and we are seeing attractive investments.”