CA Ventures launches industrial division with planned $500m investment
CA Ventures has launched a new division that will pursue speculative development and acquisition opportunities throughout the United States.
CA Industrial plans to invest $500 million in the logistics and distribution space over the next five years. CA Industrial will initially focus on the central United States, highlighting distribution networks that support regions of sustained employment and population growth.
“We go where the opportunities are, and with record-low vacancy in markets across the country, we believe the industrial sector has a lot of runway as capital continues to pour into the sector,” said Tom Scott, CEO of CA Ventures. “Using data-driven metrics to guide market, product and site selection, we will leverage organizational synergies from our other business lines.”
Leading CA’s expansion in the sector will be Sean Spellman, CA chief development officer, and Jim McGill, who has joined the team as executive vice president of CA Industrial.
McGill brings more than two decades of experience in the industrial sector from his positions with McShane Development Co., AMB and Prologis, where he most recently served as managing director, responsible for capital deployment activities in the central region, which included Midwest states as well as Texas.
As chief development officer of CA Ventures, Spellman leads all development and construction activities across the student living, senior living and residential verticals, as well as the newly launched industrial division. Prior to joining CA, Spellman was the vice president and general manager of Opus Development Co. He previously held positions with Northern Builders and McShane Development Co., where he worked with McGill.
“The industrial segment continues to outperform other asset classes and there is no slowdown in sight, particularly in the logistics hubs our firm is targeting with this initial $500 million investment,” said Spellman. “CA Industrial is already pursuing several opportunities that we hope to announce soon.”
CA Ventures has ascended from a student housing–focused company to a global real estate investment conglomerate, delivering 30,000 student-housing beds, 3,000 senior-living units, 3,000 multifamily units, 500,000 square feet of retail within its mixed-use communities, as well as the introduction of limited-service hotel offerings. The firm has started a construction division and, in February 2018, the firm announced plans to expand its international business line in Europe, with an investment of $500 million to develop purpose-built student housing and multifamily-residential communities.
