More Parking for MVP REIT

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

MVP REIT, Inc., is adding to its growing portfolio of parking facilities with agreements to acquire six Midwest assets – two parking garages and four parking lots – for a total of nearly $70 million.

MVP REIT Fort Worth Property

A publicly registered, non-traded hybrid REIT with holdings that include loans and direct investments, MVP REIT is focusing its investments predominantly on parking facilities throughout the United States, generally in downtown areas. Chairman & CEO Mike Shustek recently told Commercial Property Executive that the San Diego-based company began investing in parking lots and garages because they are one of the few property categories that are recession-resilient.

The REIT has agreed to buy a 317-space parking garage in downtown Chicago that also has about 63,000 square feet of retail space.

It also agreed to acquire two facilities in downtown Indianapolis: a 52,650-square-foot garage with 370 spaces and a 46,403-square-foot surface lot with nearly 150 parking spaces.

MVP REIT is picking up two parking lots in west downtown Minneapolis, including a 90,658-square-foot surface lot with about 270 spaces. The REIT also agreed to buy a second surface lot with more square footage, but fewer parking spaces. It is a 107,953-square-foot lot with approximately 185 spaces. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported MVP REIT is buying the lots from owner Minneapolis Venture, which had initially wanted to sell to developers. The newspaper noted commuters are likely to be happy MVP REIT plans on operating the sites as parking facilities because other downtown developments are gobbling up surface parking lots.

The purchase in Milwaukee is near a site where the Milwaukee Bucks are planning a new multi-purpose arena designed to revitalize the city’s downtown area with a sports and entertainment district, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal. MVP REIT’s new acquisition is a 48,500-square-foot lot with approximately 75 parking spaces. The Milwaukee Business Journal reported the seller was an affiliate of Jackson Street Holdings L.L.C., which developed a nearby Aloft Milwaukee Downtown hotel. In March, MVP REIT acquired a 54-space lot in the same neighborhood. That lot is across from the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee hotel and within a half-mile of the Bucks current home, the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

These purchases are expected to close later this year or early next year. Currently, the REIT’s parking portfolio contains 11 surface parking lots and three parking garages with a total of 3,253 spaces and is valued at $70.9 million.

In June, MVP REIT had announced it closed on five parking facilities in four states for a total of $36 million. Those acquisitions included the Milwaukee lot as well as an eight-story garage with 1,013 spaces in Fort Worth, Texas; a four-story garage with 265 spaces in Houston; a downtown lot with 221 spaces in St. Louis  and a lot with 28 spaces in downtown Denver lease to the city’s school district.