Bridge Development Partners and PGIM Real Estate form $150 million joint venture to acquire and develop cold storage properties across the USBridgeDevelopmentPartnersandPGIMRealEstateform$150millionjointventuretoacquireanddevelopcoldstoragepropertiesacrosstheUS

Chicagoland cold storage facility, Bridge Point Northlake, will serve as seed asset for the venture

CHICAGO, Dec. 11, 2019 – Bridge Development Partners LLC and PGIM Real Estate, the global real estate investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc., have announced the launch of a $150 million national cold storage investment program, targeting $400 million in assets. This programmatic joint venture will seek value-add returns through the development of Class A cold storage facilities, as well as the acquisition and repositioning of Class A/Class B cold storage developments across the country.

As part of the joint venture agreement, Bridge Development Partners has recapitalized its Chicagoland cold storage facility, Bridge Point Northlake, with PGIM Real Estate. The facility will serve as the seed asset for the joint venture’s national cold storage portfolio.

Bridge Development Partners acquired Bridge Point Northlake, a 1.5-million-square-foot former Dominick’s Safeway grocery storage facility, in 2014. Bridge then redeveloped and sold a dry storage building on the property to PGIM Real Estate in 2016 and subsequently redeveloped the remaining two cold storage buildings on the property. The freezer storage facility was expanded by 110,000 square feet and the produce cooler facility – built to suit for candy maker Fannie May in 2017 – was expanded by 61,469 square feet as part of the repositioning.

“Bridge Point Northlake provides both Bridge and PGIM Real Estate with a strong seed asset that will serve as the foundation on which we build our national cold storage portfolio,” said Brian Niven, senior vice president, Cold Storage at Bridge Development Partners. “This program is paramount as we see populations across the U.S. surging and the demand for fast, fresh product increasing. We’re thrilled to partner with PGIM Real Estate on such a meaningful joint venture, and we look forward to building out this portfolio on a national level.”

Bridge Point Northlake’s freezer features 40-foot clear freezer heights, freezers equipped with minus-10-degree temperatures, a 35-degree refrigerated dock, over 15,000 pallet positions, 78 trailer positions, and 92 parking spots. With 81% occupancy, there is 85,000 square feet of cooler space still available.

“As the online food delivery market in the U.S. continues to grow, the need for cold storage industrial space is skyrocketing and we expect the pace of demand to continue on that trajectory,” said Darin Bright, managing director and senior portfolio manager for PGIM Real Estate’s U.S. core-plus investment strategy. “Our joint venture with Bridge – beginning with our acquisition of a seed asset in Chicago’s most sought-after industrial submarket – positions us for success as we establish a best-in-class cold storage portfolio nationally on behalf of our investors.”

Bridge Point Northlake is located at the center of the Chicagoland region, just 8.5 miles from O’Hare International Airport and 19 miles from downtown Chicago, with immediate access to Interstates 294 and 290 and in close proximity to Interstates 90, 88 and 355. Though it is located in the O’Hare submarket, it sits at the convergence of three infill markets – O’Hare, Near West, and West – making it ideal for both local and regional users.

Michael Caprile, Zach Graham, and Ryan Bain of CBRE National Partners brokered the sale of Bridge Point Northlake to the joint venture.

The Bridge Point Northlake transaction was led by Rush Shah and Steve Oliveira, executive directors at PGIM Real Estate, and Brian Niven at Bridge Development Partners.

 

About Bridge Development Partners
Bridge Development Partners LLC (www.bridgedev.com) is a privately owned firm that focuses on the acquisition and development of Class A industrial real estate in the supply constrained core industrial markets of Chicago, Miami, New Jersey/New York, Los Angeles/San Francisco, and Seattle. Since its inception in 2000, Bridge has successfully acquired and developed more than 36 million square feet of industrial buildings/projects valued at more than $5.8 billion.

About PGIM Real Estate
PGIM, the global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) (NYSE: PRU), is one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world, with more than $175.9 billion¹ in gross real estate assets under management and administration, as of Sept. 30, 2019. Through its PGIM Real Estate and PGIM Real Estate Finance businesses, PGIM leverages a 140-year history of real estate lending on behalf of institutional and middle-market borrowers,² a 49-year legacy of investing in commercial real estate on behalf of institutional investors, and the deep local knowledge and expertise of professionals in 31 cities around the world.

Prudential Financial, Inc. of the United States is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom.

¹ AUA equals $36 billion and the net AUM globally includes $49.8 billion for PGIM Real Estate.

² Includes legacy lending through PGIM’s parent company, PFI.