CRG, the real estate development and investment arm of Chicago-based Clayco, has hired Kevin Scott as vice president of investments and developments to lead acquisition and fund management activities for CRG’s build-to-core investment vehicle, U.S. Logistics Fund I (USLF I).
In his role, Scott will identify ground-up industrial investment opportunities and oversee acquisitions and development activities of the USLF I portfolio. He will work closely with USLF capital partners and CRG’s regional development teams based in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Southern California, St. Louis and Columbus, Ohio. Scott will be based in the firm’s Chicago office.
“Kevin is a key addition to our industrial team as we continue to provide unmatched investment opportunities in some of the country’s premier industrial markets,” said Shawn Clark, president of CRG. “His knowledge and expertise will allow us to connect our industry-leading integrated design-build model with an investment platform that can quickly identify and deploy capital aligned with strategic opportunities across our pipeline.”
USLF I, CRG’s build-to-core industrial fund, has completed more than $418 million in projects over the past 18 months in markets such as Eastern Pennsylvania, Atlanta, Seattle and Portland, Oregon. Scott will build on the success of USLF I by providing fund investors with active portfolio management and identifying new fund investment opportunities leveraging CRG’s active pipeline of more than $3 billion in high-barrier-to-entry logistics markets throughout the country.
“There is significant national demand for newly built core industrial assets,” Scott said. “Consumer spending shifts, accelerated by the global pandemic, along with continued historically low interest rates have investors focusing on asset classes that provide stable yields. Industrial is high on this list.”
According to JLL research, industrial tenant demand is exceeding supply nationally, particularly for newly built space. User demand for warehouse space in the United States has grown 32 percent over the past three years, and net absorption across major markets regularly exceeds new development.
CRG’s industrial development strategy specifically focuses on next-generation buildings through its industrial brand, The Cubes. Each building developed by the firm is created with an emphasis on sustainability and state-of-the-art building specifications to match the needs of today’s leading logistics users. The Cubes locations prioritize superior access to transportation networks and strong, qualified labor pools, while each building includes flexible site plans, deeper truck courts to accommodate more trailer parking, increased automobile parking, energy efficiency planning and increased power to support modern technologies. CRG delivers more than 10 million square feet of Class A industrial product on an annual basis.
“CRG is delivering the right product at the right time for the market,” Scott said. “I’m excited to join one for the most successful industrial developers in the country. CRG offers a unique value proposition for our capital partners. Our platform is one of the most vertically integrated platforms around and it allows us to mitigate execution risk while providing proprietary investment opportunities. We’re going to be very active and successful for our investors.”
The addition of Scott to the industrial team continues CRG’s expansion of talent within the organization, allowing the firm to fast-track its pipeline of active projects to meet national industrial users’ urgent need for new construction. The firm has expanded nationally with four new regional offices over the past four years and recently added Jeff Lanaghan in May, after a 28-year tenure at IDI Logistics, as Midwest industrial lead in Chicago.
CRG also added Jeff Tegethoff as operating partner in April, along with former city of Chicago Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman in August 2019 and Geoffrey Kasselman, SIOR, senior vice president and partner, workplace strategy in December 2019.
Prior to joining CRG, Scott spent three years as vice president at Molto implementing capital deployment strategy for target markets in the Midwest and three years with Prologis, as market officer of Nashville and Memphis. A native of Philadelphia, Scott holds a bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in real estate finance and private equity from the University of Texas at Austin.
