Welbic LLC Venture One Real Estate Welbic is a private investor made up of members of the Cibula and Lewandowski families. It has combined these new acquisitions with the 26 other industrial properties it already owns in the region and also just secured a $100,000,000 loan that covers the entire portfolio. George Cibula chairman and chief executive officer of Darwin Realty, tells GlobeSt.com. "We have tremendous faith in the continued expansion of the Chicago metroplex." "In spite of what you read about how high taxes are killing Illinois," he adds, the outlook for the region's industrial market is quite bright. "Transportation is cheaper here than anywhere else in the country," and 40% of the freight moved in the US at some point touches a portion of the metroplex, which stretches across three states. Furthermore, for companies looking for a properly trained labor force, especially for activities like precision machining, "you can get it here." The buildings just acquired are a diverse lot, and were constructed between 1975 and 2002. They are occupied by an equally diverse group of tenants that includes, logistical firms, clothing distributors, record storage companies, restaurant suppliers, auto repair facilities, and many others. In addition to Kenosha and Alsip, the buildings are also located in Carol Stream, Chicago, Elk Grove Village, Bedford Park, Gurnee and others. Cibula says the company has signed agreements with many tenants that it would get their approval before publicizing the sale of a building, and because there are now more than 100 tenants in the portfolio, it can't give out the exact addresses. "We usually buy buildings in ones and twos," Cibula adds. "Whenever we had a little bit of extra money we would buy a building," but the Venture One offering opened up a bigger opportunity. The latter company recently launched a 978,120-square-foot build-to-suit distribution center 3M Matthew Lewandowski Erin Cibula Gabriel Silverstein Angelic Real Estate, LLC Doug Banzuly Keith Plummer Paul Mokhatas Wells Fargo Morrison Street Capital Ryan Potts Matthew Brotschul Brotschul Potts, LLC Cushman & Wakefield

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Welbic Spends $50 Million on Chicago Industrial Assets

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