NORTHBROOK, IL-Locally based Pine Tree Commercial Realty has formed a joint venture with New York City-based Silverpeak Real Estate Partners to acquire retail assets and portfolios greater than $10 million across the country. Silverpeak was formed last year as a successor to Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners, and this will be its first retail investment.

The new Pine Tree Silverpeak Retail Partners LLC will acquire assets across the risk spectrum, but will mostly focus on grocery-anchored strip centers and discount-orientated boxes, says Peter Borzak, Pine Tree co-founder and principal. “That’s our sweet spot,” he says. Retail is Pine Tree’s specialty; Borzak’s firm was founded in 1995 and has since acquired and developed more than 60 properties valued at more than $550 million.

The venture is looking nationally, and has no target goal in terms of dollars or number of projects, Borzak says. “We want to make the decision based on the quality of the asset,” he says.

Already active, the JV has two properties under contract, Borzak tells GlobeSt.com. He says he can’t divulge much detail, but that one site is in Nashville, TN and another is a grocery-anchored center in Alabama. “There’s properties and money back in the market, it feels good for people to be active again as we saw at the recent ICSC convention. Plus, we saw that tenants want to expand, and that’s always a good sign,” Borzak says.