Carnegie Companies And Weinberg Capital Group Announce The Formation Of A New Real Estate Partnership And Acquisition Of Three Shopping Centers In Greenville, Michigan

CLEVELAND, Nov. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Companies, Inc. ("Carnegie"), a leading multi-state real estate owner/property manager and Weinberg Capital Group, Inc. ("WCG"), a private equity firm that invests in middle market operating companies and real estate announced today the formation of Carnegie-Weinberg ("CW").  The unique partnership combines Carnegie's long history of successfully identifying, acquiring and managing real estate portfolios with WCG's capital base, asset management expertise, and long track record building successful enterprises.  Together, the partners will look to opportunistically acquire and manage properties in a variety of segments, including: multi-family, office, industrial, and with a core focus on retail shopping centers.

Headquartered in Solon, Ohio, Carnegie is an affiliated group of privately-owned, multi-state real estate investment companies.  Established in 1927, Carnegie is now under its fourth generation of family ownership.  The senior leadership team includes the firm's principals, Paul Pesses and Peter Meisel, as well as Fred Scalese and Cole Pesses.  The company has a long history of sustained profitability and positive cash flow.  Carnegie currently owns or holds a significant financial interest in over 45 properties located in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New York and Ohio. 

WCG is a private equity firm that has been successfully buying companies for decades and serves as the family office for the Weinberg Family.  The firm's principals include Ron Weinberg, Chip Weinberg, John Herman and Cameron Miele.  The firm maintains a long and successful track record in both private equity and real estate investing.  The firm's private equity portfolio includes seven operating companies generating in excess of $275 million of annual revenue.  The portfolio covers a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, business services, aviation services, retail, consumer products, financial services and value-added distribution.

The two partners share a philosophy of partnering with exceptional managers, containing costs and managing risk as their asset management strategy in an effort to generate favorable risk adjusted returns.  CW's primary focus will be to acquire and operate small to mid-size (40,000 SF – 250,000 SF) neighborhood shopping centers, often anchored by a grocery store.  The primary attributes CW will look for in a target retail property include:

1. Shopping centers in good locations within secondary or tertiary markets across the United States.  Ideally with a grocery store or other strong anchor tenants.
2. Properties that can be acquired at favorable cap rates.  CW seeks "value" oriented pricing where there is upside.
3. Properties possessing a large and diverse number of national tenants.
4. Properties exhibiting strong underlying performance by its tenants.
5. Strong population demographics and favorable median incomes.

In conjunction with the formation of CW, the partners also announced the acquisition of three retail centers located in Greenville, Michigan.  The portfolio includes a total of approximately 174,000 square feet.  The three properties are individually referred to as: The Marketplace (65,291 SF), Greenville West (100,752 SF) and Hathaway Circle (8,032 SF).  The three highly desirable retail centers feature unmatched visibility, access and are located in close proximity to each other and neighboring a Meijer Grocery and Walmart.  The properties include strong historical occupancy rates from a diverse base of leading national tenants.  CW has already initiated a program to upgrade all three centers.

According to the John Herman, Director & Principal at WCG and manager of the firm's real estate investments, "We were strategically looking for stellar managers to partner with and penetrate the real estate asset class in the same way we have with our corporate private equity business.  We are just thrilled to have found such a partner in Carnegie.  Our collective goal is to scale up and build a very significant portfolio together."

"We are very pleased to be partnering with our friends at Weinberg Capital Group," stated Paul Pesses, Principal at Carnegie.  "This partnership really does combine the best of both worlds when it comes to real estate expertise, disciplined investing, asset management and access to investment and growth capital."

Commenting on the new partnership, Chip Weinberg, Managing Director & Principal at WCG stated, "Today is a very exciting day for our firm and our investors.  We are great admirers of Carnegie Companies and look forward to a long and successful partnership.  Peter and Paul are highly respected real estate professionals.  By harnessing their real estate expertise with our capital, asset management expertise, and successful private equity track record, we believe that we will be able to offer our investors a very attractive portfolio combining both strong income generation and appreciation."

CW is actively pursuing new real estate opportunities. 

SOURCE Weinberg Capital Group

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