Tampa company adds to net lease portfolio

A nascent Tampa real estate investment trust that is hoping to complete an initial public offering in the coming months has expanded its portfolio of net-leased properties.

Generation Income Properties Inc. in late September added a pair of office properties in Norfolk, Va., the company says.

Both properties were contributed to Generation Income’s portfolio through an UPREIT structure, which allows owners to defer capital gains taxes while realizing the value of their properties.

Combined, the two office buildings total 106,621 square feet and were valued at $18.9 million.

The larger of the two buildings, at 71,774 square feet, is fully occupied by the U.S. General Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees all U.S. owned or occupied real estate, and shipping giant Maersk.

The second building, in Norfolk’s Riverside Corporate Center, is fully occupied by the PRA Group.

Both buildings had been owned by Robinson Development Group, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based developer and owner of office and residential projects throughout Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland, according to its website.

The transaction between Robinson and Generation Income was brokered by commercial real estate firm Colliers International. Colliers also has been retained for future property management.

“We’re really happy with these assets, and we more than doubled the value of our portfolio in one day with them,” says David Sobelman, Generation Income’s president and CEO. “So it’s good for the growth of the company.”

With the purchase, Generation Income’s portfolio now comprises five assets valued at $38.6 million. Sobelman says the REIT has an acquisition pipeline of more than $270 million, which it hopes to execute on within the next 24 months.

Meanwhile, Generation Income has retained investment bank Maxim Group to raise equity and help it become publicly traded, a process it hopes to complete early in 2020.

The company is expecting to sell roughly six million common shares to the public at about $5 per share, and trade on the Over The Counter stock index.