Increased demand fuels Unilev Capital industrial acquisitions

CHICAGO, March 15, 2022 – JLL Capital Markets announced today that it, on behalf of Unilev Capital Corporation, arranged acquisition financing of $8,050,265 for a two-property portfolio totaling 90,849 square feet of small-bay, light industrial space in Chicago.

Working on behalf of the borrower, Beverly Hills-based Unilev Capital (Unilev), JLL placed the financing with a national bank.

The financing comes on the heels of Unilev’s recently launched industrial platform, which, since its inception less than 18 months ago, has proceeded to acquire $120 million worth of industrial across more than 850,000 square feet throughout the country, with a particular focus on multi-tenant, small-bay product located in dense, infill markets. Their initial acquisition efforts have been focused on the Midwest and Las Vegas, in addition to various coastal markets. Recent acquisitions include 10 Chicago-area assets, three Las Vegas properties and an asset in San Diego acquired as both single-asset and portfolio transactions, of which over 50 percent have been sourced off-market.

The Unilev investment team, led by Raymond Levy, Ian Konowitch and Peter Berges, is looking to continue to expand their industrial holdings dramatically as they identify assets that fit their criteria while taking advantage of asset specific tail winds and moving quickly in their acquisition of transactions within their target profile.

“Unilev has been researching the light industrial and small-bay industrial space for the past few years while looking for the right opportunity to enter the industrial sector,” said Ian Konowitch, Chief Investment Officer, Unilev Capital. “With the continued surge in demand for industrial, there is a frenzy of new development and supply chasing that demand. In addition to better risk-adjusted returns, one of the opportunities we see within this small-bay industrial subsector is the ability to push rate because of the continued demand growth and limited supply being developed due to significantly higher cost of replacement.” 

“Our most recent acquisitions show that it is possible to benefit from the demand surge in industrial while also earning attractive returns and purchasing below replacement cost,” added Raymond Levy, Principal and Co-Founder, Unilev Capital. “We have already seen outperformance in our leasing projections and remain focused on monitoring the trends to acquire additional strategic assets for our portfolio.”

JLL Capital Markets has been heavily involved in the growth of this platform, functioning as an intermediary on the financing side of most of the transactions while also providing the Unilev team opportunities on the sale side as well.

Several recent acquisitions have been acquired in joint venture with an affiliate of Palladius Capital Management. “We value the relationship with Unilev and look forward to growing the platform in the future,” said Nitin Chexal, CEO of Palladius.

Of the new assets in Unilev’s growing industrial portfolio, JLL has arranged acquisition financing for 11 of them, including 10 Chicago-area properties, 1180 Douglas Rd. and 900, 902 and 950 Paramount in Batavia; 24317 W. 143rd St. in Plainfield; 1000 W. Crossroads Pkwy. in Bolingbrook; 5201-5241 Thatcher Rd. in Downers Grove; 700 Anthony Trail in Northbrook and 405-421 Heathrow Ct. in Burr Ridge, along with Woodridge Commerce Center at 10204, 10210 and 10216 Werch Ave in Woodridge. 131 W. 33rd St. is in National City, California, near San Diego.

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the borrower was led by Senior Managing Director and Los Angeles Capital Markets Office Co-Head Jeff Sause, Senior Director Brian Walsh and Associate Wyatt Strahan.

“We’ve been very impressed with Unilev’s ability to continue to find attractive industrial opportunities in such a competitive environment,” Sause said. “JLL has been fortunate to sell and finance a number of the assets and are looking forward to Unilev’s continued growth in the industrial space.”

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment sales and advisory, debt advisory, equity advisory or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,000 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

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