A Dallas-based real estate investment firm has closed on an Ohio industrial property portfolio valued at $100 million, scooping up two buildings in West Chester Township and two more in the Columbus area. The deal, financed with a $65.7 million mortgage loan from Fifth Third Bank, includes a 205,920-square-foot bulk distribution facility at 8800 Global Way in West Chester, which alone sold for $23 million on June 17.
The buyer, Swift Creek Real Estate Partners, is based in Dallas and executes value-add and core-plus real estate strategies across industrial, multifamily, retail, and office sectors nationwide, according to Radient Analytics. The firm was formed in December 2023 by former Sarofim Realty Advisors executives and is an SEC-registered investment advisor that managed roughly $1.74 billion in assets as of the end of 2025, per the same filing data. As first reported by Local 12 News, the transaction closed through buyer entity SCIVF Ohio Holding LLC, which took title to the two Cincinnati-area properties along with a pair of industrial buildings on the south side of Columbus.
The West Chester building sits on 13.3 acres, carries M-2 heavy industrial zoning, and was built in 2000 with direct access to Interstate 75 via Union Centre Boulevard, according to a LoopNet property listing. The multi-tenant bulk distribution building sits off the Union Centre Boulevard commercial corridor and hosts tenants including aluminum access manufacturer Upside Innovations, which occupies 112,320 square feet, and J&K Cabinetry Ohio, which leases 57,184 square feet, according to the West Chester Development Council.
Columbus Assets Anchor SouthPark Industrial Corridor
On the Columbus side of the deal, public property records show that SCIVF Ohio Holding LLC took title to industrial properties in Grove City, including 3655 Brookham Drive and 2235-2297 Southwest Boulevard, according to the Franklin County Treasurer. Those facilities sit within the 500-acre SouthPark industrial center, a master-planned distribution corridor established in the mid-1990s near Interstates 71, 270, and 70, per LoopNet listing data. Grove City serves as a primary south-side logistics cluster for the Columbus metropolitan area, the listing notes.
Fifth Third Bank, headquartered in Cincinnati at 38 Fountain Square Plaza, provided the $65.7 million mortgage loan backing the portfolio purchase. The lender has prioritized industrial assets in its commercial real estate lending while halting new loan originations in the office sector, according to the Toledo Blade. The bank reported in 2023 that office loans accounted for just 1.3 percent of its total loan portfolio, the paper reported.
Vacancy Rates Near Historic Lows in Both Markets
The acquisition lands amid tight industrial fundamentals in both metro areas where the portfolio's buildings are located. Overall industrial vacancy in Greater Cincinnati fell for four consecutive quarters to 5.1% in the second quarter of 2026, supported by strong tenant absorption and average asking rents of $6.35 per square foot NNN, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Net absorption in the region reached 2.7 million square feet in early 2026 as logistics and manufacturing occupiers expanded, the firm's data shows.
Greater Columbus posted similar momentum, recording 1.9 million square feet of positive industrial net absorption in the second quarter of 2026, pushing vacancy down 270 basis points year-over-year to 5.2% while average asking rents climbed to $6.76 per square foot, according to CBRE. Leasing activity in the metro totaled 5.8 million square feet during that same quarter, CBRE reported.
Smaller-format industrial buildings like those in the Swift Creek Partners portfolio have outperformed larger warehouses nationally. Shallow-bay and sub-50,000-square-foot industrial properties maintained a tight 4.8% national vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2026, compared with an overall U.S. industrial vacancy average of 6.9 percent across all size categories, according to WareCRE. The firm attributed the gap to steady last-mile tenant demand and limited new supply.
Regional Logistics Growth Fuels Investor Interest
Regional economic development group REDI Cincinnati has pointed to industrial space as the strongest commercial real estate sector in the region this year, citing proximity to Amazon's Global Hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, according to a report from REBusinessOnline. Greater Cincinnati recorded its highest number of corporate site selection visits on record in early 2026, the report noted. That backdrop, paired with tight vacancy in both Cincinnati and Columbus, helps explain why a Dallas-based investor was willing to package assets across two separate Ohio metros into a single nine-figure transaction.
Cincinnati Business Courier, a Local 12 News partner, has also covered the Cincinnati commercial real estate market. Neither the buyer nor the lender has publicly detailed further plans for the properties beyond the closed transaction.
