Galvanize Real Estate (GRE), the sustainable real estate strategy of investment firm Galvanize Climate Solutions has acquired a 608,000-square-foot industrial asset located at 150 Milford Rd. along the I-95 corridor in Central New Jersey. The building is the third acquisition in GRE’s growing real estate portfolio.
Galvanize’s real estate strategy is focused on investing in and decarbonizing industrial, residential, student housing, and self-storage properties while improving cash flow and increasing asset value. GRE believes 150 Milford meets its criteria for significant decarbonization potential as it seeks to reduce the operational emissions of this property and achieve more than 100% greenhouse gas emission reductions over its baseline.
“We believe that 150 Milford serves as a perfect complement to our existing portfolio along the I-95 corridor,” said Joseph Sumberg, managing partner and head of Galvanize Real Estate. “We’re delighted to grow our New Jersey presence and build a pipeline of resilient energy efficient assets in markets with strong real estate fundamentals.”
GRE investment professionals collaborate with a team of in-house scientists, climate technologists, and policy experts who help to evaluate and execute each property’s decarbonization potential. 150 Milford’s current tenant has stated sustainability goals and expressed an interest in deploying solutions that reduce the building’s operating costs and carbon footprint. GRE offers its tenants solutions to help address Scope 3 emissions, meaning those which companies are indirectly responsible for through their value chains, and therefore challenging for tenants to mitigate.
“150 Milford leverages more than 600,000 square feet of rooftop space to provide the in-place tenant with onsite renewable power. It also takes advantage of a rich community solar program to distribute renewable energy to the local utility. In addition, we intend to electrify the property where possible with the conversion of fossil fuel fired systems to air sourced heat pumps for heating and cooling,” said Nicolette Jaze, head of ESG and sustainability, Galvanize Real Estate.
GRE’s business plan includes value-add improvements to the asset and a reduction of on-site carbon emissions by up to 266-324% over the property’s baseline, achieved through a series of initiatives with strategic solar and decarbonization partners. This could amount to approximately 65,000 metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) avoided over 30 years or nearly 8,502 homes’ energy use for one year.
