Darwin Investment Lands $100M Refi for Industrial Portfolio
Wells Fargo provided the loan for the Chicago-area property collection.
Darwin Investment Group has refinanced a 40-building industrial portfolio totaling 2.2 million square feet throughout Greater Chicagoland with a $100 million seven-year loan from Wells Fargo. The deal, arranged by DarwinPW Realty/CORFAC International, has a fixed rate for 80 percent of the loan and floating rate for the remaining 20 percent.
Matthew Lewandowski, principal of both DarwinPW Realty/CORFAC International and Darwin Investment Group, said the loan has a 50 percent loan-to-value that gives the privately held real estate company the flexibility to acquire more assets.
“We were very happy with what Wells Fargo provided us, including the rates and flexibility of the terms,” Lewandowski told Commercial Property Executive.
He added the firm plans to acquire more assets in the Chicagoland area as well as southwest Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
Based in Elmhurst, Ill., Darwin Investment Group focuses on commercial real estate investments throughout Chicagoland. The portfolio was last refinanced in December 2015, when it comprised 1.4 million square feet across 27 buildings. The current portfolio has more than 225 tenants in 40 buildings, including a 63,740-square-foot, FedEx truck terminal in Aurora, Ill. Located at 3883 Butterfield Road, the 15-acre property has 270 trailer spots and 100 car parking spaces. Most of the assets are in DuPage and Cook counties with a few in Lake County and other collar counties. The portfolio also has two properties in southwest Wisconsin.
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“We are very confident in the future of industrial real estate here because of the great infrastructure of railroads, highways, airport, waterways, the central location in the country and our excellent labor pool,” Lewandowski told CPE.
He said Darwin has been active in the market for 50 years and is skilled at sourcing deals, managing and leasing properties.
“We have an excellent team of in-house property managers and brokers and plan on leveraging our resources to focus on buying more properties,” Lewandowski said.
DarwinPW Realty team deals
Other members of the DarwinPW Realty team working on the refinancing deal included Managing Broker George Cibula, CFO Erin Cibula and Asset Manager Patricia Liston.
DarwinPW Realty/CORFAC International is a privately held real estate brokerage, property management, investment and development firm also based in Elmhurst. In addition to providing real estate services to institutional owners of Midwest industrial properties, the firm also manages 300 industrial and commercial tenants on behalf of investors.
In February 2024, DarwinPW Realty represented CenterPoint Properties in a 330,694-square-foot lease with Norkol Converting Corp. at CenterPoint 88 Industrial Center in Montgomery, Ill. The property is rail-served by BNSF Railway and near Interstate 88.
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