Our guest today is Charlie Deeks, Chief Investment Officer at PIRET (Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust). PIRET is a Blackstone and Ivanhoe Cambridge portfolio company headquartered in Toronto.

 

Industrial assets have been the strongest through COVID-19, so Charlie discusses this trend and talks about some deals his company has transacted during the pandemic. He gets into how screening tenants will change because of everything that has happened in 2020 and more trends that he is seeing in the industrial space.

 

Topics covered include:
• How Charlie got into real estate and ended up where he is today.
• Corporate takeovers that Charlie has experienced.
• A rundown of PIRET and their organizational culture.
• The most important aspects of a deal to PIRET.
• Why PIRET has not yet sold any assets.
• Transactions that the company has been involved with during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Industrial being the preferred asset class during the pandemic.
• New entrants to the industrial market.
• The lagging rent prices previously seen in Toronto.
• Tenant criteria that COVID-19 has placed more importance on.
• What Charlie thinks is the perfect asset.
• Working with the community and facing NIMBYism.
• How much value Charlie places on e-commerce buildings.
• Buying industrial buildings based on the land.
• The growing popularity of industrial condo conversion.
• Maximum potential rent in Canadian cities.