Archon Rolls Out Industrial Buying Spree

IRVING, TX-Archon Group LP and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.-sponsored Whitehall funds are on a buying spree for properties to reposition and sell in a first-time drive for industrial holdings. A $10.4-million deal has been sewn up and another will come in 30 days.

“We are trying to fit in the niche between a troubled asset and a long-term holder,” Greg Johnson, Archon’s senior acquisitions manager, tells GlobeSt.com. He expects the acquisition team will spend between $40 million and $75 million this year for industrial properties in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver and Dallas. “But that is in no way an indication of what we could do,” he explains. “If there are deals out there that aren’t going to be profitable, we aren’t going to chase them.”

The play has been launched with the buy of Post Palms Business Center in Las Vegas. All that is being said about the seller is that it’s a public REIT that has been unable to position the six-building, 139,906-sf office flex-warehouse property into a successful operation.The next buy will close in 30 days, Johnson confides, and is a 325,000-sf vacant facility south of Atlanta’s airport. “We’re pretty active because of the product type we’re trying to choose,” he says.