NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bridge Investment Group LLC (“Bridge”) today announced the launch of its industrial net lease strategy (“Bridge Industrial Net Lease”), which aims to focus on acquiring attractively priced mission critical industrial net lease real estate scaled for diversification and durable income in prime U.S. growth markets. Within this new strategy, Bridge will leverage its nationwide real estate platform and deep in-house operating platforms, which is expected to enable Bridge Industrial Net Lease to efficiently acquire, manage, re-lease, and maximize returns in stabilized industrial assets for the strategy.
On the strategy launch, Robert Morse, Executive Chairman of Bridge, said: “Bridge sees key market opportunity in the industrial real estate sector. We believe that the vertical will continue to outperform as e-commerce and supply chain growth fuel tailwinds, intensifying the need for high quality and well-located mission critical facilities in logistically connected corridors.”
To lead this new strategy, Bridge appointed the Bridge Industrial Net Lease team, which has a combined 70 years of experience in the real estate and finance industries collectively. Effective as of today, this team will be led by Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), Mike Sodo; Co-Chief Investment Officer (“Co-CIO”), Matt Tucker; and Co-CIO, Brandon Flickinger. They are joined by Managing Director, James Freeman. The launch of this strategy and the appointments of these individuals mark an important move for Bridge into the industrial space.
On the appointment of the Bridge Industrial Net Lease team, Morse said: “We are thrilled to welcome Mike, Matt, Brandon and James to the Bridge team. Their collective experience is vital to our success as we move into the increasingly important industrial net lease vertical.”
About the Bridge Industrial Net Lease team
Mike Sodo, CEO of Bridge Industrial Net Lease Fund Manager LLC (the “Fund Manager”) is a co-founder of the vertical and member of the Investment Committee (the “Investment Committee”) of the general partner of the fund (the “General Partner”), with over 20 years of experience in the real estate, finance and accounting industries. As CEO, Mr. Sodo oversees the business activities of the vertical, including real estate investment decisions, banking relationships, capital origination, investor relations, and executive oversight of the vertical. Prior to his current position, Mr. Sodo was most recently the CFO of Gladstone Commercial Corporation (NASDAQ: GOOD) (“Gladstone”), a publicly traded REIT with approximately $1.1 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2020, and previously served as Executive Vice President, CFO and Treasurer of VEREIT (NYSE: VER).
Matt Tucker, Co-CIO of the Fund Manager is a co-founder of the vertical and member of the Investment Committee of the General Partner, with over 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate and corporate finance industries. As Co-CIO, Mr. Tucker oversees the business activities of the vertical, including acquisitions, asset management, strategy, relationship building, capital sourcing, financing, credit underwriting, and executive oversight of the vertical. Prior to his current position, Mr. Tucker served as Executive Vice President and Head of the Northeast and Midwest Regions of Gladstone, where he was involved in the assembly and management of an approximately 8 million square foot portfolio of industrial and office assets, and lead the acquisitions and asset management teams for that portfolio.
Brandon Flickinger, Co-CIO of the Fund Manager is a co-founder of the vertical and member of the Investment Committee of the General Partner, with over 18 years of experience in the real estate, finance, and investment banking industries. As Co-CIO, Mr. Flickinger oversees the sourcing, negotiating and structuring of investments throughout the U.S. Prior to his current position, Mr. Flickinger was an Executive Vice President with Gladstone, where he led the investments and asset management teams that acquired industrial and office assets in the Southeastern and Western U.S.
James Freeman, Managing Director of the Fund Manager is a member of the Investment Committee of the General Partner. Mr. Freeman has over 10 years of commercial real estate experience and has been involved in the acquisition, management and disposition of more than $1 billion in commercial real estate assets. Prior to joining Bridge, Mr. Freeman was responsible for business development, deal sourcing, capital sourcing, establishing and maintaining relationships with operating partners and ensuring successful investment execution at Cardinal Industrial.
About Bridge Investment Group
Bridge is a privately-held real estate investment management firm with $25+ billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2020. Bridge combines its 4,200+* person, nationwide operating platform with specialized teams of investment professionals focused on select US real estate verticals, which Bridge believes offer above-market opportunity: multifamily, office, seniors housing, affordable housing, opportunity zones, and debt strategies. This press release is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any vehicle managed by Bridge or any of its affiliates. This press release contains forward-looking statements about our beliefs and expectations related to the market and our industrial strategy, which are subject to various risks and may change.
*Total 4,200 employees include employees of professional employer organizations at sites managed by Bridge Senior Living LLC.