Ares Swoops Into Fort Worth With Massive Industrial Buy

Ares Real Estate’s national spending spree touched Tarrant County, where the firm scooped up industrial warehouses spanning 1.6 million square feet last month.

The Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust bought properties in Arlington, east and north Fort Worth and Northlake for an undisclosed price, the Dallas Business Journal reported, citing a release from JLL Capital Markets.

The properties include the Arlington Tech Center, at 2030 East Arbrook Boulevard; the Northlake Business Center; the 35/820 @ Mercantile Center, at 4800 North Sylvania Road in Fort Worth; and Riverbend Distribution Center, at 2101 Reeves Place in Fort Worth.

JLL did not disclose the seller of the properties. Tarrant County deed records for Riverbend Distribution Center and 35/820 @ Mercantile Center indicate the properties were previously owned by WPT Reeves Place and WPT Sylvania Avenue.

Riverbend Distribution Center was acquired in 2017 by Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust, one of the largest publicly traded REITs in Canada, according to The Business Press. Pure Industrial was later acquired by U.S. private equity giant Blackstone for $2.6 billion.

The buildings were all constructed between 1999 and 2017. Each property is positioned an average of less than a half mile from interstates along the Dallas-Fort Worth logistics corridor.

Ares Industrial Management will manage the buildings. So far six tenants have fully leased the properties and include automotive and HVAC distributors, environmental services, apparel distribution and third-party logistics. Ares has been on an industrial portfolio hunt in recent months, acquiring $86 million worth of properties in the Chicago area earlier this summer. The firm had one of the biggest industrial deals in South Florida last year, when it paid $147 million for a complex of new warehouses in Miami Lakes.

Weber said the portfolio offers investors exposure to assets positioned in a market that benefits from sustained demand in logistics and manufacturing.

— Eric Weilbacher