Brennan Investment plans warehouse in Chicago suburb

Acquisition comes amid tough industrial market

Brennan Investment Group's Michael Brennan and Zippy Shell (Brennan Investment Group)
Brennan Investment Group's Michael Brennan and Zippy Shell (Brennan Investment Group)

Chicago-based Brennan Investment Group plans to build a 118,800-square-foot facility for Zippy Shell, a storage and moving company, in suburban Bartlett.

The facility will sit on a 7.3 acre industrial parcel in Blue Heron Business Park, the firm said in a statement. CBRE’s Jack Brennan brokered the deal. The company didn’t say how much it paid for the land or when construction is expected to be complete.

The site allows Zippy to serve both the north and western suburbs of Chicago, Brennan’s Tod Greenwood said in the statement. Neither Brennan nor Greenwood returned calls seeking comment.

Brennan’s build-to-suit program, which refers to developing properties to meet the tenant’s needs, is growing, Greenwood said. The company, which buys, develops and operates industrial facilities, has acquired $5 billion in industrial real estate since 2010 in a portfolio that spans 27 states and encompasses about 46 million square feet, about half of which is in the midwest. Brennan has 27 properties in the Chicago area.

Brennan recently acquired an industrial site near O’Hare International Airport and late last year teamed up with New York-based Arch Street Capital Advisors to buy an eight-property industrial portfolio spanning six states in the Midwest and Southwest. The firm’s 2019 purchase of a manufacturing plant in Mount Prospect for $7.8 million was the Chicago market’s third-priciest investment sale.

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The investor also quadrupled the value of its 2018 investment in an Elk Grove Village technology and industrial park when it sold in April.

Jack Brennan, who is related to Brennan Investment employees, told The Real Deal in April that CBRE was making more money than ever from industrial real estate amid a market with a lack of industrial space.

“There is more allure to focus on that specialty, the industrial specialty,” he said. “It has also made it more competitive. It’s very hard when representing tenants. There is very little product. Tenants definitely need to move quickly.”