After acquiring its first investment property in 2022 for $2 million, CORE’s acquisitions division recently sold the Belfast shopping center for $2.8 million, achieving a 28.4% internal rate of return for investors.
The Portland brokerage firm, led by Josh Soley, launched its acquisitions division in July 2024 with a goal to reduce the barrier to entry to local investors interested in diversifying their portfolios by entering the commercial real estate market.
The division leverages its in-house team of management, development, brokerage, underwriting and risk assessment professionals and aims to offer investors and partners an opportunity to deliver competitive yield and fee structures.
Groundwork
The groundwork for the division was laid in 2022, when CORE formed Kliner Industries to acquire 15 Starrett Drive in Belfast, which it purchased on May 4, 2022, for $2 million. The 18,850-square-foot neighborhood shopping center is located at the entrance to Belfast and anchored by Belfast Drug Co.. Additional tenants included New China, Sherwin-Williams, Rent-A-Center, Goodwill and U.S. Cellular.
Equity for the project totaled $700,000 and was raised from seven local investors. The acquisition was supported by $1.3 million in debt financing from Bangor Savings Bank.
Investor return
CORE recently sold the property for $2.8 million, delivering a 28.4% internal rate of return for investors.
Investors received a 10% annual return throughout the hold period, with quarterly distributions that began immediately following acquisition.
The division introduces “a new institutional model to Maine, bringing in local investors, using local assets, and setting out to deliver outcomes that were simply unheard of in this market,” said Soley.
40 acquisitions
Since launching the division, CORE has acquired more than 40 properties. It has raised more than $50 million in total capital, with 90% coming from individual investors and $10 million raised in the past year alone.
CORE is now focused on its next investment asset, a class A office building at 2 City Center in downtown Portland. The firm executed a 1031 exchange to defer capital gains taxes from the Belfast property and redeploy the capital toward the property. The property was acquired from Two City Center LLC for $4.7 million. The expectation is that it will be a long-term hold, Soley told Mainebiz.
Soley founded CORE in 2017, and by 2026 the company made more than $1 billion in sales.