Darwin Investment Group is holding onto a 40-building industrial portfolio throughout suburban Chicago as the sector stabilizes following a spike coming out of the pandemic.
DarwinPW Realty and CORFAC International facilitated a $100 million refinancing of the portfolio from Wells Fargo on behalf of landlord Darwin Realty Group, according to a Tuesday news release. The portfolio’s full value is appraised at around $200 million.
The portfolio covers 2.2 million square feet and was last refinanced in late 2015. At the time, it consisted of 1.4 million square feet of space and 27 buildings. It now reaches from the south suburbs to southeast Wisconsin and boasts 225 industrial tenants.
It’s the latest big Chicagoland industrial package to land a significant investment from institutional capital in recent months. In the close to 2024, Rosemont-based Venture One partnered with New York-based DRA Advisors to buy a big but vacant Joliet warehouse for $40 million, Ares Management tossed $46 million into a large Aurora industrial property and publicly traded Stag Industrial picked up a $74 million Chicagoland portfolio from CBRE Investment Management.
With Darwin Investment’s new debt in place, the firm plans to continue to expand its holdings in the area, said Matthew Lewandowski who represents DarwinPW Realty/CORFAC International and Darwin Investment Group.
“This new loan structure and 50 percent loan-to-value (ratio) allows us flexibility to acquire new buildings to add to our portfolio,” Lewandowski said.
Meanwhile, the region’s industrial market is showing signs of stabilizing following a pandemic-era building boom.
Industrial groundbreakings fell significantly when comparing the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2024. The start of this year had 738,000 square feet of industrial space broke ground, down from 3.8 million in the same quarter of 2024, according to CBRE.
Still, the slowdown at the beginning of this year comes at the end of a strong stretch for the sector.
The average asking rate for industrial properties in the Chicago area increased to $8.59 per square foot as it continues its upward climb from the pandemic, CBRE found. In the first quarter of 2022, the average asking rent was $5.50 per square foot.
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