Three Austin industrial sites sold, renovations planned

Brennan Investment Group LLC has bought a 137,635-square-foot distribution and flex space portfolio in Austin from Unum Group.

The purchase was made through a new joint venture between Chicago-based Brennan and Dallas-based Trigate Capital LLC. A price wasn’t disclosed.

The properties are three regional distribution and flex warehouse buildings spread across Austin: Summit Park A, a 53,100-square-foot flex building in Northwest Austin near Wells Branch; Southeast Commercial, a 34,514-square-foot flex building near Burleson Road and U.S. Highway 71 in Southeast Austin; and Cameron Creek Business Park, a 50,021-square-foot flex building near Rundberg Drive in Northeast Austin.

The facilities range in age from 27 years old to 14 years old, and the portfolio was 72 percent occupied when sold.

The deal was an off-market transaction from a lender that had foreclosed on the property.

Unum Group was represented by Luke Wheeler and Hale Umsted at Transwestern. John Barksdale and Greg Marberry of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. represented the buyer. The joint venture financed the acquisition with a mortgage loan from Aetna Inc.

“The Austin industrial market is extremely attractive due to its strong job and population growth, combined with physical and regulatory constraints on new supply,” said Troy MacMane, Brennan Investment Group’s managing principal for Texas.

“Our plan for the Austin portfolio is to implement immediate capital improvements to enhance its attractiveness to prospective tenants and aggressively lease the vacant space. We are seeing improvements in both short-term and long-term fundamentals in the Austin market that should lead to strong risk-adjusted returns.”

This is one of the only portfolio sales in recent memory, said Wheeler, associate vice president at Transwestern.