Bridge Development Partners LLC and PGIM Real Estate, the global real estate investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc., say they have launched 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-sq. ft. 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 sq. ft. and the produce cooler facility – built to suit for candy maker Fannie May in 2017 – was expanded by 61,469 sq. ft. 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.”
“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.”
