Newmark Facilitates $240M Industrial Joint Venture Between DRA Advisors and Burton Katzman; and go forward Programmatic Venture

March 6, 2023 9:00 AM

Newmark has arranged a $240 million joint venture (the “Venture”) between the Sponsor, Burton Katzman and DRA Advisors for the recapitalization of 24 infill light industrial properties in the Midwest. The Newmark team was led by Vice-Chairmen and Co-Heads of Debt & Structured Finance Jordan Roeschlaub and Dustin Stolly, along with Director Eden Abraham. Executive Managing Director Daniel Canvasser from the Detroit office provided regional support on the transaction.

The 24-property industrial portfolio spans over 2.2 million square feet, is 99% leased with a five-year weighted average lease term (WALT) and features a diversified national tenant roster. With over 40 tenants on the rent roll, no tenant occupies more than 15% of the portfolio’s square footage, mitigating rollover risk. Newmark also arranged the financing for this transaction.

The Venture will target value-add returns by acquiring industrial assets across the Midwest where rents are below market. DRA Advisors and Burton Katzam (the Sponsor) can create value through strategic leasing via their extensive relationships in the automotive industry. Additionally, Sponsorship will be developing and expanding the space of several assets in the seed portfolio.

“With a diversified rent roll and strong WALT, the seed portfolio is comprised of some of the most credit-worthy tenants in the automotive industry,” commented Roeschlaub. “This opportunity was well received by the capital markets community and demonstrated the strong institutional investor demand for light industrial assets,” added Stolly.

“The Portfolio represents a highly compelling opportunity to acquire a dynamic, well-occupied, and cash-flowing light industrial portfolio at an attractive basis with a best-in-class joint venture partner,” explained Brett Gottlieb, Managing Director for DRA Advisors.

The effort to raise capital for the Venture is part of Newmark’s continued push into equity financing focused on raising capital for both platform and programmatic joint ventures.

About Burton-Katzman
Burton-Katzman is a fully integrated real estate company with extensive experience and expertise across property acquisition, planning and development, project and construction management, strategic planning and asset management. With over 110 years of history in the real estate industry, with an emphasis on the industrial market, Burton-Katzman has become well versed in effectively building and managing properties across various asset classes.

DRA Advisors
DRA Advisors LLC is a New York-based registered investment advisor with approximately 95 employees specializing in real estate investment management services for institutional and private investors, including pension funds, university endowments, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and insurance companies. Since DRA was founded in 1986, the firm has opened additional offices in Miami and San Francisco while acquiring over $37.8 billion of real estate. The acquisitions include 84 million square feet of industrial, 65 million square feet of office, 87 million square feet of retail and 84,000 multifamily units. As of September 30, 2022, DRA has $12.3 billion in gross assets under management. http://draadvisors.com

About Newmark
Newmark Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMRK), together with its subsidiaries (“Newmark”), is a world leader in commercial real estate, seamlessly powering every phase of the property life cycle. Newmark’s comprehensive suite of services and products is uniquely tailored to each client, from owners to occupiers, investors to founders, and startups to blue-chip companies. Combining the platform’s global reach with market intelligence in both established and emerging property markets, Newmark provides superior service to clients across the industry spectrum. Newmark generated revenues of approximately $2.7 billion for the year ending December 31, 2022. Newmark’s company-owned offices, together with its business partners, operate from approximately 180 offices with nearly 6,700 professionals around the world. To learn more, visit nmrk.com or follow @newmark.

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