Galvanize Real Estate acquires a three-property industrial portfolio

Boston, MA Galvanize Real Estate (GRE), the sustainable real estate strategy of Galvanize, a global asset manager investing at the intersection of energy innovation, resilience, and intelligence, completed its acquisition of a three-property, 360,000 s/f industrial portfolio (the Liberty Logistics Portfolio) located in the Metro West and Metro South areas of Boston. This acquisition marks GRE’s first in Massachusetts and expands the strategy’s portfolio to 3.2 million s/f nationwide.

“Boston has consistently stood out to us as a compelling market, driven by its strategic location and deep pool of skilled talent that can support the local blue-chip manufacturing industry,” said Joseph Sumberg, managing partner and head of Galvanize Real Estate. “We are pleased to enter this critically important and dynamic market by acquiring three high-quality assets, each of which is primed to benefit from our differentiated program of value creation through decarbonization.”

“82% of the industrial real estate assets in the Greater Boston industrial market were built before 2000. As a result, the vast majority of the well-located warehouses lack the basic functionality that modern tenants desire,” said Rachel Reardon, managing director, acquisitions at Galvanize Real Estate. “This creates an exciting opportunity for GRE to modernize while we decarbonize, which we believe will create more resilient, efficient, and attractive properties for current and future tenants.”

GRE’s business plan for the Liberty Logistics Portfolio includes a mix of electrification initiatives, energy reduction opportunities, onsite renewable energy generation, and battery storage. Given the utility’s growing cost of electricity, GRE plans to utilize a combination of solar and battery with the goal of increasing resiliency and achieving energy cost savings. The portfolio’s onsite renewable energy program is expected to create an estimated 2.4MW of new clean energy capacity and participation in demand response programs can reduce strain on the local grid during critical times. As a result of these improvements and upgrades, GRE estimates it will reduce the properties’ on-site carbon emissions by 104% as compared to the portfolio’s baseline.

“From the state’s generous SMART 3.0 program to its variety of demand response programs, Massachusetts is a natural fit for GRE’s profitable decarbonization strategy,” said Nicolette Jaze, head of sustainability at Galvanize. “We plan to tap into state programs that incentivize energy efficiency, electrification, and clean energy generation to help meaningfully reduce carbon emissions, benefitting tenants and local communities alike.”