The industrial sector is the hottest real estate segment in the country right now, according to some top investors, and one D.C. firm is making a big bet on the NoVa industrial market.

Buchanan Partners, in a joint venture with Miami-based Elion Partners, has just spent $81M to buy a 14-building industrial portfolio along the Route 28 corridor in Chantilly. A partnership of Ares Capital Corp. and Adler Group sold the portfolio, and Colliers' David Gast brokered the deal.

The 700K SF industrial portfolio consists of three Chantilly business parks: the Dulles Business Park at 3680-3863 Centerview Road, the Westfields North business park at 14420-14434 Albemarle Point Place and Sullyfield Business Park at 14280-14290 Sullyfield Circle.

The portfolio is 70% leased, and the JV retained CBRE's Bob Gibbs to lease the remaining space. Buchanan and Elion also plan to invest more capital to improve the landscaping and amenities of the business parks.

“With rising raw land prices, a strengthening submarket and accelerating residential demand, we set out to find high-quality buildings that could be positioned as best-in-class industrial space for tenants serving this rapidly evolving area,” Buchanan Partners Senior Project Manager Colin Dove said in a release.