Bluecrest Capital Advisors is mounting a selective push into the Southeast’s small bay light industrial market, a sector marked by persistent supply constraints and robust rent growth, in pursuit of value that larger players have often overlooked. Led by Scott Porter and John Colucci, whose combined fifty years of industry experience span $6.7 billion in transactions and over three million square feet developed and managed, Bluecrest is aiming to amass more than one million square feet of industrial assets within five years, focusing on acquisitions that offer operational complexity and value-add potential rather than turnkey ease.
Porter draws on his experience in retail—where returns have grown muted—and has deliberately avoided the crowded multifamily space, stating, “I’ve looked at multifamily deals … and felt like they were kind of priced to perfection.”
Instead, he and his team seek properties typically in the 50,000-square-foot range, favoring deals that require construction or more intensive tenant buildouts, for which demand far outstrips supply in southeast growth markets.
“For the assets that we’re attracted to, are typically assets that require a little bit more lift. They require a little bit more construction, a little bit heavier on tenant build out … in that space, it’s a little less crowded,” says Porter.
Bluecrest’s recent acquisitions, totaling about 200,000 square feet, are part of a cautious roll-out of their property and asset management systems, accounting practices and third-party leasing arrangements, initially focused on Nashville. The plan is to expand selectively throughout the Southeast once operations are standardized.
Porter expects to pursue two to three assets over the next 12 months, with total acquisition volume ranging from $30 to $70 million, and longer-term ambitions to aggregate over a million square feet.
“Our goal is really very simple. It’s to buy deals that we really like, we feel like we can add significant value, where we have downside protection, that we can de-risk through the initial part of our hold.”
Tenant demand remains strong, supported by population growth and constrained supply. Bluecrest’s early assets have seen spaces “not stay vacant long,” with the first property seeing nearly a 60% spread to previous rents, a testament to the underlying rent growth opportunities inherent in the small bay segment.
Much of the demand comes from local service operators—plumbers, HVAC specialists, electricians—who depend on proximity to population centers and have limited space alternatives due to slow new construction and redevelopment pressures.
The firm has raised funds on a deal-by-deal basis—from a life insurance company for its first acquisition and from family offices and high-net-worth individuals for the second. Porter emphasizes the advantages of sourcing capital from family offices, describing the process as organic and network-driven and valuing the “flexibility and patience” of these investors.
Though the company is new, most of the team have worked together before, having realized IRRs of nearly 30% in retail deals over a four-year hold period. Porter summarizes, “We have a professionalism given that a lot of us came from an institutional background that maybe a lot of smaller firms don’t have.”
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