Industrial veterans Eric Ruehle and Adam Deierling are striking while the industrial demand is hot. The duo has launched West Harbor Capital, a new industrial investment firm that will focus on value-add opportunities in the Southern California markets. Ruehle and Deierling, formerly of Sitex Group and Black Creek Capital, respectively, have a combined three decades of experience in the real estate market, and plan to leverage their deep relationships to find big success in the highly competitive SoCal industrial market.

“We felt like there was an opportunity in the market, in both the ecommerce marketplace and the overall industrial sector,” Ruehle tells GlobeSt.com. “Given our background, we are confident this is a good time to capitalize on the activity in the industrial sector.”

The growth of ecommerce hasn't only created demand but also an opportunity to redevelop dated manufacturing buildings into distribution centers. For that reason, West Harbor will focus on infill vintage properties and redevelop them to accommodate the demand from today's users. “We are really focusing on value-add,” Deierling tells GlobeSt.com. “As ecommerce continues developing as an integral part of the industrial market industrial real estate will continue transforming into a platform for companies to service rooftops and expand their businesses.”

Of course, this is an active and very competitive market with few opportunities and high barriers to entry. To forge ahead, Ruehle and Deierling say that they will focus on off-market deals. “Off-market deals tend to produce the best results,” explains Deierling. “We have grown up in the industry with most of the brokers here in Southern California, having developed solid relationships with them over time. We are confident those relationships will breed off-market opportunities, which provides us a great opportunity to execute on our value-add strategy.”

They are already producing results. The new firm recently closed on its first deal, a 42,000-square-foot single-tenant property in Garden Grove, which it purchased for $5.43 million. While they wouldn't reveal their business plan just yet—they said that in general, they are remaining nimble and adapting their strategy asset to asset. “We are opportunistic based on each specific the property. We strongly believe in our relationships and our ability to source value-add opportunities,” adds Deierling. “In addition to uncovering deals, we feel like the timing in the market is an opportune time to develop deep relationships with our capital partners. We are confident the combination of the two will establish the foundation for long-term success now as well as once the market cycles into more of a buyer friendly environment.”

While it hasn't set out any specific capital placement goals for the year, the firm is activity looking at other opportunities throughout the Southern California market.

Instant Insights /

CRE Vets Launch New Industrial Value-Add Company

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