About half a year after launching a retail REIT, Becknell Industrial has brought on an executive who will be tasked with expanding the fund's selling group.
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Chicago-based Becknell named Russ A. Greenwald as its director of strategic partnerships. He joins the firm’s sales team that markets shares of Becknell Industrial Income Trust Inc. to accredited investors, according to a press release.
Greenwald spent more than a decade at LaSalle Investment Management, where he helped the organization build its selling group for JLL Income Property Trust. He also held senior roles with Mesirow Financial, Guggenheim Investments and Allstate Financial.
“Russ has strong relationships with leading wealth management firms,” Becknell Industrial Chief Legal Officer Patrick Harrington said in the release. “His experience aligns perfectly with our commitment to providing high-quality industrial real estate investments intended to deliver reliable income and long-term value appreciation for advisers and their clients.”
Becknell also named Eric Schilling as vice president of debt capital markets and Josie Peacock as director of investments and capital markets.
The company launched its private, perpetual life industrial income REIT in February, with an estimated $10M in gross offering proceeds expected in the first 12 months and a minimum investment of $25K, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Becknell said at the time that e-commerce and reshored manufacturing activity are driving an increase in industrial demand.
Companies are expected to absorb more than 150M SF of distribution and warehouse space in the U.S. in the second half of this year and an additional 245M SF next year, driven by data center capital spending and e-commerce growth, despite higher interest rates, according to a report from the Commercial Real Estate Development Association Research Foundation. Companies absorbed more than 114M SF in the first half of 2026.
At the same time, developers added 75M SF each in the first and second quarters this year, the slowest pace of new development since early 2018, according to CREDA.
REIT investors will tap into Becknell’s existing industrial portfolio.
“This fund provides accredited investors the opportunity to participate in the industrial real estate sector through a professionally managed, income-focused vehicle with a team that has been exclusively focused on industrial real estate for over 35 years,” Becknell Chief Financial Officer Clay Thelen said in a February press release.
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