Industrial Midwest Speaker Jim Martell Sees the Opportunities

With more than 40 years’ experience in all facets of commercial real estate, Jim Martell could hold forth on any number of CRE-related subjects. At Connect Industrial Midwest on Wednesday, though, he’ll be focused on the opportunities and challenges facing industrial players in the region.

It’s territory he knows well, first as founder of Ridge Realty Group—which he led through joint ventures with Prudential and Transwestern, among others—and most recently as founder and CEO of Logistics Property Company (LPC). Connect Media caught up with Martell to check in on the progress LPC has made since its launch in 2018, with among other objectives to amass $5 billion in assets under management within five years.

Q: You launched Logistics Property Company two years ago. Has the platform’s growth since then met your expectations, or exceeded them?

A: Yes, we have exceeded our AUM goal, and our capital raise will close out at our fund cap. We started with 11 people, and now have 40 team members with 20 more hires slated over the next 15 months.

Q: The LPC team brings a deep bench of industry experience to the platform. How has this level of experience enabled you and your team to meet a fast-changing environment for industrial demand, acquisition and development?

A: An experienced team with deep market knowledge and experience along with market relationships, such that we are the first call in many cases to look at land opportunities as well as build-to-suits.

Q: Although you’re rooted in the Midwest and specifically the Chicago region, LPC has also pursued large projects in Dallas/Fort Worth and the Pacific Northwest. Do these regions offer different opportunity sets compared to the Midwest?

A: Each major market has its own specific characteristics, based on geographic considerations as well as user demand based on population, transportation and land constraint issues. That said, with an experienced team in place that knows the local peculiarities, seasonality and demand drivers, we are positioned to take advantage of the opportunities each market has to offer.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny