Milwaukee's Heatin' Up
The largest non-core industrial portfolio to trade in the Midwest in recent years just sold in Milwaukee, thanks to investors’ scramble for yield that’s difficult to find in top-tier assets and markets. Avison Young’s Erik Foster and Mike Wilson repped the seller, Centerpoint/CalPERS, in the sale of the 12-building Airport Industrial Park portfolio (above, tenants include Ace Industrial Properties, Versa Technologies, and DHL Air Express). The buyer was a private investment fund manager. It’s indicative of investor interest in value-add industrial in less frothy markets, they say, not to knock Milwaukee’s off-the-charts fundamentals. It’s had positive absorption for the past 14 consecutive quarters along with 7.1% vacancy, and easy access to Chicago means it could be industrial’s next hot spot.
