First Industrial's Mike Brennan

Leave a message for Mike Brennan, CEO of Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust Inc., and you can be sure he’ll ring you back within two hours. If he fails to do so, $50 comes out of his bankroll and into a nonprofit’s back pocket. That two-hour return call is company policy, he says, and one of the reasons for First Industrial’s success. Brennan, head of one of the most powerful providers of diversified industrial real estate, hasn’t forgotten the art of humility. After all, when the company was formed 11 years ago, it represented a mere $600 million in investment capital. In the past year alone, balance-sheet acquisitions have gone from $368 million to $650 million; sales have soared from $425 million in $700 million; and while the company owned or managed 82 million sf in 2004, it now carries 104 million sf of industrial property in 28 markets. What’s more, last year, the company boasted $75 million in JV buys, adding to what is now a $1.6-billion base of joint-venture successes. One of the most recent partnerships, and certainly one creating the most headlines, was with the mammoth pension fund California State Teachers Retirement System. In March, the duo teamed up to collaborate on a $950-million venture . Then in September, the team joining forces again, this time to acquire the 216-property, 14.4-million-sf portfolio acquired from Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. Is the recent uptick in First Industrial activity a defense against the growing market share of a post-Catellus ProLogis? How does Brennan view the changes in the once dull—now super sexy industrial market? In a recent, exclusive interview, he tells us.

GlobeSt.com: You’ve recently made some pretty large acquisitions with CalSTRS. Can you tell me a little about that relationship?

Brennan: We wanted to expand our investment platform to more effectively source land acquisitions, to develop buildings or buy redundant assets from corporate America. So CalSTRS needs to be viewed in the context of the company’s overall plan. That capital was necessary for us to expand our vision in the industry and penetrate the lucrative corporate market. So we went out to find a like-minded partner, somebody who believed in the opportunities we believe in, who believed in managing the investment the way we had been managing it. CalSTRS was the right partner for us, and it’s been a terrific partnership.