Former Crow Holdings, CBRE Execs Launch Industrial Investment Firm
A new player in the industrial sector is filled with some familiar faces from Dallas-Fort Worth.
Randy Baird, Ben Doherty and Brice Hafner joined forces to create Eider Creek, a new firm focused on ground-up development and targeted acquisitions in Texas and other top logistics markets across the country.
Its investment arm, Eider Creek Partners, will look for warehouse and logistics acquisitions and strategic joint ventures for developments nationally. Eider Creek Development will focus on developing industrial projects in DFW, Houston and other core Texas markets.
“Eider Creek may be a new firm, but it is built on relationships developed over decades of shared investment experiences and aligned values,” Doherty said in a statement.
Baird brings 31 years of experience, most recently as vice chairman at CBRE. He also previously held senior roles at Cushman & Wakefield and HFF. He will lead Eider Creek’s portfolio strategy, valuation oversight and strategic capital.
Doherty spent more than 20 years with Crow Holdings Capital, where he managed its industrial and self-storage group. He will lead investment strategy, governance and capital formation for the new firm.
Hafner will oversee development, acquisitions and asset management at Eider Creek. He also spent time at Crow Holdings and was most recently with GreyArch Properties.
In addition to overseeing their new venture, the founders will remain involved in sourcing, underwriting and executing investments.
The firm's initial portfolio consists of two projects, according to the Eider Creek website: the 468K SF Mountain Creek East Logistics Center in Dallas and the 168K SF Marine Creek Logistics Center in Fort Worth. The Fort Worth property, which is for lease, includes a nearly 6K SF spec office and 36-foot clear heights on 11.6 acres.
The trio will office at 8333 Douglas Ave., near the southeast corner of the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and Northwest Highway in Dallas.
The Metroplex topped all U.S. markets for industrial construction in May, with more than 28M SF in the pipeline. That total is nearly 3% of the market’s existing stock, according to Yardi Matrix data.
The wave of new supply has pushed DFW’s industrial vacancy rate to 10.2%, among the highest of any major U.S. market. The metro's pipeline is expected to shift toward build-to-suit projects, as those should limit the market's exposure to huge spec projects that drive up vacancy.
