"Ridge Property Trust is strategically positioned to take advantage of the rebound in the economy and the resulting increased demand for well located, state-of-the-art warehouse and distribution facilities in key distribution markets in the US," says Flint Creek Partners, LLC managing director John Nikolich.

However, it is Newark, NJ-based Prudential Real Estate Investors that is putting up 90% of the money, Nikolich tells GlobeSt.com, coming from pension funds and overseas institutional investors. As a result, it will have three of the five seats on the Ridge Property Trust board of directors, he adds.

Before the equity infusion, Ridge Realty Group had been raising capital on a deal-by-deal basis, Nikolich says, including assets sold earlier this year to Liberty Realty Trust. Flint Creek Partners went to the market last fall, he adds, but most investors preferred waiting on the sidelines.

Part of the Ridge Property Trust story, Nikolich says, was the industrial sector.

"Everybody is bemoaning the fact that operations have been suffering, but nobody's turning back the keys, and occupancy rates are in the high 80s," Nikolich tells GlobeSt.com.