Rockpoint and ADIA Launch $2B Industrial Platform
They will focus on build-to-core industrial investments in high barrier-to-entry locations.
Rockpoint, a Boston-based real estate investment management firm, has formed a platform with a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to target industrial investment opportunities of approximately $2 billion in gross asset value. The new investment vehicle will focus primarily on build-to-core industrial investments in high barrier-to-entry locations across infill, demand-driven, gateway and growth markets in the US.
It is the latest venture to target the booming industrial asset class.
Supply and demand fundamentals in the industrial market continue to be very strong. Vacancy rates are dropping to historically low levels and rent growth is accelerated across the board.
Matteson Hamilton, Stream Realty Partners Executive Managing Director & Partner, Industrial Capital Markets, tells GlobeSt that the ability for landlords to mark-to-market rents is creating a strong investment appetite as tenant demand remains at an elevated level.
“While we are keeping an eye on the speculative development pipeline, a staggered delivery schedule—due to supply chain challenges—is allowing markets to properly absorb product as evidenced by significant pre-leasing activity,” Hamilton said.
“As population growth remains one of the primary drivers for industrial real estate, we are very bullish on those growth markets across the US and monitoring population migration patterns very closely. Despite the uptick in interest rates, investors will continue to aggressively pursue industrial products due to their low capital needs and long-term growth from e-commerce acceleration.”
Hamilton’s firm is not the only one interested in the market.
BEB Capital and Rockpoint in December launched a programmatic joint venture to focus on the US industrial and last-mile logistics sector, to name one example.
The JV targets an investment pipeline of up to $1 billion of industrial assets in the Northeastern United States, with a primary focus in Long Island, NY.
And Rockpoint has been a repeat investor. In February 2021, the firm formed a strategic partnership with Ben Harris, an industrial real estate investor and operator, one that is expected to continue to generate significant industrial investment opportunities for Rockpoint’s existing opportunistic and growth and income funds.