BROCKTON, MA-A large commercial building in this South Shore community has been acquired by Equity Industrial Partners of nearby Needham as the firm continues to reload nationally following its blockbuster $516 million portfolio sale consummated earlier this summer. EIP paid $7.8 million for 560 Oak St., a 441,000-sf behemoth purchased empty from a private investment group, Brockton Oak RT.

EIP principal Bruce Levine tells GlobeSt.com that his firm is preparing to meet Brockton Mayor James Harrington and other officials to determine what path to take with the site. "It's a very good location," Levine says of 560 Oak St., not only situated adjacent to the Westgate Mall, but also offering quick access to major roadways such as Route 24. Besides city input, Levine says the company is interviewing local brokers to assess what sort of uses might be attracted to the building.

"We have some flexibility on what we can do there," says Levine. Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts broker Rick Putprush concurs, having listened to divergent concepts during marketing of the building, a process that generated about 20 tours. C&W's Middle Markets Group represented the seller and introduced the buyer, which negotiated the acquisition in-house. "We believe there's potential to take any number of avenues," Putprush says of the property, which encompasses 21 acres along a roadway that sees 22,000 vehicles pass by daily.

The sale continues a productive season for C&W's Middle Markets Group, and Putprush says industrial properties have been well-represented. "We've done quite a bit of that lately," he reports, crediting the slate to the C&W team focused on small- and middle-sized transactions up into the $50 million range. Investment specialists handling the Brockton transaction included Chris Griffin, David Pergola and Brian Doherty, while Putprush also cited the South region leasing team of Cathy Minnerly and J.P. Plunkett for market knowledge and other advice given on the asset.

EIP is not stopping its investment train in Brockton, according to Levine. "I would say we are an active buyer," he says, having also secured a building in the northern Massachusetts seaside community of Gloucester, as well as a 440,000-sf refrigerated warehouse just outside Cleveland. As in the case of the portfolio acquired this summer by a consortium of KBS Realty Advisors, Hackman Capital Partners and Calare Properties of Hudson, EIP's new platform will also be national, he says. Known for repositioning underperforming properties, EIP is pursuing both value-add and stabilized real estate in the search, says Levine, whose father, Donald Levine, founded the firm in partnership with Massachusetts investor Lewis Heafitz.

Bruce Levine says he does not see EIP competing against the buyers of the other portfolio, noting that it was 93% leased at the time of the closing. Although that package of 11.4 million sf extends from New Hampshire to Colorado, the country's industrial stage is large enough for both to operate, he says. EIP does have a number of deals in play, but Levine declined to identify any until closing. "We're looking at any and all opportunities that make sense to us," he says.