Oakmont, Hunt Ally for Industrial Spree

Hunt Realty is the 25-year-old centralized real estate investment management resource for the entities of the billionaire Hunt family directed by Ray L. Hunt.

The partners haven't set a dollar cap on their goals, and Oakmont's existing portfolio of properties in Georgia and Texas is not part of the partnership. Hunt, headed by president Gene Sanger, will be the capital provider. Oakmont, led by president Richard Rider and executive vice president Stephen Nelson, will handle most of the development and acquisition assignments which are expected to be in high-quality business parks.

Despite average mid-teen industrial vacancies in most national markets, Rider tells GlobeSt.com the group isn't dismayed. "Each of our target markets has a different set of factors impacting supply/demand fundamentals," Rider says.

The industrial sector in metro Atlanta in 2001 and 2002 were "correction years, with absorption numbers off significantly from the peak levels of the late 1990s," he says. "The good news today is that deliveries were down 50% from 2001 to 2002 and 2003 deliveries should be down even further.

Atlanta-based Dorey Research estimates new industrial product of 15.5 million sf surfaced in 2001 versus 7.1 million sf in 2002. "We think deliveries this year will be in the five-million-sf range," Rider tells GlobeSt.com.

"The market should be in a position to rebound in mid to late 2003," the Oakmont executive says. "Long term, we are very bullish on Atlanta, as it remains an important link in the national distribution chain and a preferred market for institutional investors of core industrial product."