The Bahrain-based firm acquired the I-495 corridor portfolio from Longfellow Real Estate Partners, which had paid $62.3 million for the same properties between 2021 and 2022.
Investcorp acquired a portfolio of eight industrial properties along the Interstate 495 corridor and in the Worcester area for $76.5 million, according to public deed records. The Bahrain-based investment firm purchased the buildings from Boston-based Longfellow Real Estate Partners.
Longfellow had acquired the eight properties between 2021 and 2022 for roughly $62.3 million, the records show. The properties are located in Westborough, Marlborough, Woburn, Randolph and Franklin.
The buildings sit at 28 Torrice Drive in Woburn; 128-148 Bartlett Street in Marlborough; 52 York Avenue in Randolph; 10 Liberty Way and 120 Constitution Boulevard in Franklin; and 45 Oak Street, 23 Bridle Lane and 25 Bridle Lane in Westborough.
Investcorp, a global investor with more than $10 billion in U.S. real estate assets under management, last month announced $225 million of industrial acquisitions in the Philadelphia and Nashville markets. The firm said that deal was part of its strategy to pursue well-located, infill light industrial product in leading U.S. industrial markets with strong supply-demand fundamentals, the company said.
The firm did not respond to a request for comment on the Massachusetts transaction.
The Deployment Angle
Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk · our analysis, not the source's
The arithmetic tells the deployment story. Longfellow paid $62.3 million and sold 24 to 36 months later for $76.5 million, a gross gain of $14.2 million or 23 percent. If Longfellow levered the acquisition at 60 percent loan-to-cost, the equity cheque was roughly $25 million and the unlevered return approaches 57 percent over that hold. That return profile argues for direct acquisition of secondary industrial portfolios in suburban New England markets, not for co-GP stakes alongside large sponsors already scaling similar strategies.
Investcorp is executing programmatically. The $225 million Philadelphia and Nashville deal last month and this $76.5 million Massachusetts purchase both fit the infill light-industrial thesis the firm has articulated. For a family office principal with $50 million to $100 million of dry powder targeting industrial, the question is whether to run a parallel strategy as a principal or to deploy alongside Investcorp through a separate account or club deal. The former offers control and the chance to extract the 23 percent Longfellow captured. The latter offers speed and the benefit of Investcorp's origination pipeline.
Underwrite tenant rollover and capex carefully. The I-495 corridor is a strong distribution market, but these are older buildings Longfellow held for short duration. Price in the cost of re-tenanting and upgrading loading, clear height and power to meet modern logistics tenant requirements. Avoid buying portfolios assembled quickly during the 2021-2022 peak unless you have conviction on in-place cash flow and rollover risk.
