Bridge Industrial (“Bridge”), a privately-owned, vertically integrated real estate operating company and investment manager, today announced that Ben Bischmann has joined the firm’s corporate team as its first-ever Senior Vice President of National Operations and Asset Management.
In his new role, Bischmann will be responsible for managing Bridge’s national portfolio, leading the development and institution of strategic operations, capital improvements and other best practices. Through this process, Bischmann will also strengthen and grow Bridge’s offering of third-party property management services to institutional owners who have acquired properties developed and sold by Bridge.
Bischmann will report to Bridge’s executive team in Chicago, and will oversee day-to-day property management for the Chicago region — the company’s largest regional portfolio. His addition to the Asset Management team is another step in Bridge’s strategic shift to focus on long-term investment across its national portfolio.
“In previous years, Bridge has worked diligently to and succeeded in building top-tier teams in each of our regional markets. Now, with a successful and distinguished presence in these local markets, we look forward to leveraging Ben’s extensive expertise to streamline and standardize operations at the national level,” said Steve Groetsema, COO and Partner at Bridge Industrial. “Ben is an exciting addition to the Bridge team, and his presence strengthens our proven reputation as a superior, vertically-integrated real estate operator and investment manager in the industrial market.”
Bischmann previously served as Executive Vice President of Industrial Property Management at JLL, where he served as the Midwest Industrial Property Management (IPM) Lead. As part of the role, he managed the growth of the region’s portfolio of 69 million square feet; served as the national client relationship lead for a portfolio of over 180 properties across 20 markets; and assisted in the development, institution and management of operational and investment strategies.
Prior to JLL, Bischmann served as an Account Manager at Colliers, overseeing 1.4 million square feet of office and 5.9 million square feet of industrial real estate, along with coordination of all operations, leasing, construction, sustainability, and overall investment strategy.
“Bridge has built an impressive reputation and a national portfolio of truly state-of-the-art industrial assets, and I’m eager to get to work on optimizing its performance by introducing new value-add strategies, evolving its third-party management and expanding its suite of investment offerings,” said Bischmann. “The Bridge team and I hold a shared vision to establish our operations and asset management as the best of any industrial platform in the country, and I look forward to this opportunity to combine my industry knowledge with Bridge’s elite regional teams to accomplish this goal.”
Bischmann also currently serves as a Co-Chair for the Advisory Board of Roosevelt University’s Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate in Chicago, which works to encourage the growth of a diverse and socially conscious real estate industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Illinois, and earned his master’s degree in Business Administration from Roosevelt University.
Bridge’s national property management portfolio currently comprises 89 buildings and totals 22.6 million square feet across its six regional markets of Chicago, Miami, New Jersey/New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.
