Class B Industrial Portfolios Attracting More Investors

Class B properties such as this one at 1005 Westgate St., in Addison, IL, are now much sought after by investors. This building was one of several recently bought by Brennan Investment Group, one of the region’s most active buyers.

CHICAGO—The Chicago industrial market has been setting records for leasing activity and positive absorption for several years now, and that puts it at or near the top of places where investors feel it’s safe to buy. And that includes not just its new, class A properties, but the class B ones as well.

That was shown recently when Boston-based Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc. closed a $99.75 million acquisition of a 15-building, class B industrial portfolio in the Chicago area with a total of about three million square feet. The sale comes almost three years after Goldman Sachs, along with Brennan Investment Group, acquired the facilities, mostly spread out between Southeast WI, Lake, DuPage counties, as a part of 23-property, $170 million portfolio deal. Other buildings in that portfolio were snapped up by other buyers in 2015.