Online real estate marketplace RealtyShares announced on Tuesday the closing of two industrial real estate financing transactions in San Francisco and Boston MSA. The amount raised between the deals was $10.3 million.
RealtyShares stated it secured $8.7 million industrial debt loan for a San Francisco located mixed-use, industrial warehouse and office space in the city’s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood. The company also deployed $1.5 million in a common equity investment for a retail distribution center in Littleton, Massachusetts, 30 miles from Boston in an area that is accessible to several major New England cities. It was revealed:
“The San Francisco warehouse investment was structured to include both institutional and crowdfunded capital. The total financing was comprised of $6.6 million from one of RealtyShares’ institutional partners, along with $2.1 million raised via the company’s real estate crowdfunding marketplace.”
Nick Fletcher, Associate Director of Commercial Debt Originations at RealtyShares, remarked:
“The competitiveness that we’re seeing in the San Francisco market today makes this investment opportunity particularly unique. We were able to leverage our institutional partnerships to attract a desirable asset with high caliber sponsorship. By doing so, we’ve given our network of individual investors the opportunity to invest alongside institutional capital, in a quality commercial property that would otherwise be nearly impossible for them to access.”
The Massachusetts distribution center investment was notably sponsored by NOVAYA Real Estate Ventures, an owner/operator of investment real estate in New England. James Alden, Principal at NOVAYA, commented:
“We’re focused on finding opportunities to acquire properties at an attractive basis, add value and exit in a relatively short time frame. The shift in retail from in-store to online shopping is changing the face of distribution, with many companies moving their warehouse facilities away from the middle of America and establishing end-of-the-line fulfillment facilities closer to major cities. As a result, we are seeing growth in industrial real estate in New England, with increasing sales and rents coupled with relatively low improvement and leasing costs.”
RealtyShares noted that the transaction was an opportunity for investors on its marketplace to diversify their real estate investment portfolio with an industrial asset in a market that is growing in reaction to shifts in traditional retail. Ashby McElveen, Director of Commercial Equity Investments at RealtyShares, added:
“To be able to work with a reputable operator such as NOVAYA in a transaction like this highlights both the flexibility and sophistication with which RealtyShares can provide liquidity to sponsors and investors in our crowdfunding marketplace. By leveraging the capabilities of our sponsor partners we’re creating unique opportunities for our investor network to participate in deals that would otherwise not be accessible.”
