I hope you are well and that the weather in your city has been as gorgeous as it has been here in Texas. In Austin, we joke every year that when South by Southwest rolls into town, Austin puts on a show with the most spectacular weather ever, inevitably inviting a bunch of out-of-towners to move here. A few months later, when July rears its ugly head, they all question their life choices while sweating it out in the 105-degree weather.
Cruel weather tricks aside, the real estate nerd inside me can’t help but see the similarities between the unpredictability of the weather and real estate market trends. When I set out to build Harbor Capital, it was with just over 20 years of experience as a real estate operator. Having endured the worst of what the market could throw at you in 2008, I know the horrors of trying to save development properties that had plummeted in value in a market where banks were suddenly unwilling to lend. With those and countless other heuristics ingrained deep, I was determined that Harbor Capital would be a company marked by our stability. We would see every new asset purchase as a mandate to set up a structure that could withstand the worst the market could do and still hold strong when the waters calm so we could deliver strong returns to our investors.
Our name came from my desire to build a safe harbor for investors to place capital, shielded from the strong winds and high seas out in the open water.
Harbor Capital’s portfolio today stands tall as a testament to the lessons those battle scars taught. We have transacted on more than 1.5 million square feet of Texas industrial assets, with each of our properties tucked safely inside a conservative finance structure built to last. Our assets are situated within the carefully chosen rare corners of the market that have seen high-single-digit lease rate increases over the past year. Despite the market having softened with 11 rate hikes over the last 18 months, our durable financing plans and hand-picked assets are holding their own, allowing us to keep our heads up on the horizon instead of looking down at our feet and getting into reaction mode.
Further (I know many of you have asked often about this and will be happy to hear), we have $136 million of Texas Industrial assets working their way through our stringent due diligence process. Each of these properties was sourced off-market through relationships we’ve worked hard to build over the past several years, a further testament to our core principles in action and leading to success for our investors.
If you have subscribed to our newsletter for some time, you have heard me repeat our investment thesis mantras and then repeat some more about how important these principles are to us.
“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.” -Zig Ziglar
At Harbor Capital:
“There is no shortage of brains in business; it is the vertebrae column that seems to be missing.” -David Ogilvy
We’re here, standing tall with the courage to do the same simple things over and over again. We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel; we are doing what has been proven to work and doing it on repeat.
Expect more of our boring but reliable investment offerings in your inbox. Each deal is a steadfast fortress of security for your investment. Consider this your invitation to invest in the safe harbor with us.
Levi Benkert