Blackstone — the world’s largest investment management company — is betting big on industrial real estate in Chicago with a new acquisition totaling $137 million. The firm has acquired four industrial properties near O’Hare International Airport with three located in Franklin Park, Ill., and one in Elk Grove, Ill.

The properties ranged in price from $18 million to $56.5 million and were all acquired from CenterPoint Properties — a real estate investment firm based in Oak Brook, Ill., that owns and operates warehouses across the United States.

The continuous interest displayed by Blackstone for the Chicago industrial market highlights the city’s continuing logistical importance, as well as the importance of industrial real estate as a focus for the company. To that end, Chicagoland is still the largest industrial market in the U.S. today with a total inventory of approximately 1 billion square feet of industrial space, or around 5% of the nation’s entire stock. Chicago added an additional 27 million square feet of industrial space in 2022. Check out available industrial space for lease in the most competitive markets in the U.S.:

Blackstone has a history of Chicago-area industrial acquisitions from CenterPoint. In early 2021, the investment giant acquired a seven-property, 1.1-million-square-foot industrial portfolio from the same seller for a total of $151 million. And, in 2020, Blackstone bought an additional 27 properties from CenterPoint for $400 million. Blackstone’s quality industrial properties netted the firm $3.1 billion earlier this year, when it sold a 14-million-square-foot portfolio to Prologis.

While Blackstone has reported decreasing sales in real estate during the current year, the firm recently sold an office building in Washington, D.C. for $305 million. With $332 billion in investor capital under management, Blackstone is the largest owner of commercial real estate globally and focuses on undermanaged and well-located assets. While it operates properties from all asset classes, the firm has recently been downsizing its office and retail footprint and doubling down on industrial.