Bridge Industrial, the privately-owned, vertically integrated real estate operating company and investment manager, announced today that it has completed over $6.5 billion in transactions across 23.5 million square feet in 2021. Bridge acquired 25 new properties totalling 17.5 million square feet, valued at $4.9 billion, and also executed nine sales or refinances on projects totalling six million square feet and $1.6 billion in value.
The activity comes as Bridge continues to expand its strategic capabilities and overall reach within the industrial and investment arenas.
“The past year has yielded tremendous results for the industrial sector across the globe — similarly, 2021 was a busy year at Bridge as we continued to expand and diversify our business,” said Steve Poulos, CEO and Founder of Bridge. “Our increased transaction activity has necessitated an increase in our overall capital markets pursuits, and we have been fortunate to attract new strategic partners as we continue to leverage our international, vertically-integrated operating footprint. We are incredibly proud of the success we’ve experienced to date, and look forward to making 2022 another great year.”
Bridge has continuously proven itself as a leader in the industrial sector, first as an industrial development/acquisition firm and then in 2020 adding an investment management focus. The investment management efforts, led by Sean Zasche, CFO, raised over $4 billion of equity in 2021 to deploy across the firm's strategies.
In December, Bridge also officially launched a new strategic venture focused on value-add acquisitions with the purchase of a 336,852-square foot industrial campus in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Bridge also expanded its presence in several regional markets amidst a successful transition to investment management – this includes the relocation of the firm’s corporate headquarters in downtown Chicago; the expansion of the firm’s London office; and expansion of the firm’s California office to San Francisco/Bay Area.
“The hard work carried out by the entire team at Bridge in 2021 was nothing short of extraordinary, as our firm experienced its most active year to date,” said Steve Groetsema, COO of Bridge. “We also welcomed 40 new employees to Bridge throughout 2021 to supplement this rapid growth and are continuously looking for more of the real estate industry’s top talent.”
"Our platform has gained incredible momentum over the last few years, and our already robust development pipeline indicates that it is likely to continue in 2022,” said Tony Pricco, Chief Investment Officer at Bridge. “As we acquire more properties and strengthen our long-term ownership and investment management strategies, we are in better position than ever to generate market leading returns for our expanding list of partners.”
Bridge’s current transaction and ground-breaking pipeline for 2022 includes 31 potential acquisitions totalling 11.9 million square feet with a projected value of $4.2 billion.