Atlanta-based industrial real estate investment company MDH Partners has established a Santa Monica office, planting roots in Southern California as it announces plans to expand its West Coast presence among all major California markets as well as Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Reno.
The company opened an office in Dallas five years ago. Los Angeles now marks its third outpost.
“The West Coast was kind of the next logical expansion for us,” Jeff Small, chair and chief executive of MDH Partners, said. “We wanted to be very deliberate about our expansion. The West Coast for industrial real estate is one of the largest markets in the country and really the world because of the dynamics of the ports there, in Los Angeles and Long Beach, in addition just to the very large populations and the dynamic growth in California.”
MDH acquired two industrial business parks totaling 211,000 square feet in Riverside back in 2021 which represented the company’s first foray into California. The company now owns nearly 700,000 square feet of industrial assets in the Inland Empire alone and owns or manages approximately 24 million square feet total in 30 separate markets across the U.S.
“I think it’s really about taking our philosophy that we’ve done well with in these other markets of really focusing on building local relationships, even though we’re an out-of-town firm,” Small said. “We do a lot of off-market deals based on relationships, our reputation of doing what we say we’re going to do and being easy to work with. It’s really about growing a long-term presence there in Los Angeles.”
The company has begun operating out of a coworking space in Santa Monica as it builds its team. It plans to eventually settle down at a more permanent space.
“The great thing with coworking is it allows us to quickly come in and start moving,” Small said. “We’re ready to start doing deals today.”
James Hwang is leading MDH’s Southern California operations, spearheading acquisition opportunities across several West Coast markets. Hwang joined MDH last month after spending more than seven years at Sawtelle-based Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. where he was involved in the closing of over 11 million square feet totaling $2.7 billion.
MDH’s expansion comes shortly after the company announced it closed its latest fund, equating to $1.2 billion in equity and approximately $3 billion of buying power, of which MDH plans to target industrial and logistics properties for its institutional investors.
And despite some local developers fleeing Los Angeles – due to regulations such as Measure ULA and high interest rates – MDH Partners remains opportunistic, thinking in the long haul.
“We are very excited and bullish about the opportunities in Los Angeles,” Small said. “I feel like sometimes your market can get a bad rep – some of the growth that you’ve seen in Texas, they like to slam California, but California is not going anywhere. It’s such an incredible market and we’re excited to find some really good opportunities to be there long term.”
