NNBW – Westmount Realty Capital enters Northern Nevada market

Westmount Realty Capital’s first commercial real estate play in Northern Nevada was the recent acquisition of three industrial buildings totaling nearly 810,000 square feet on Lillard Drive.

The Dallas-based private commercial real estate investment firm owns an extensive portfolio of industrial, multifamily and office assets throughout the South and Midwest, and it had long been looking at Northern Nevada for light industrial properties, said Brian Scruggs, managing director of industrial acquisitions.

“I have been with Westmount almost 10 years, and we have been looking for investment opportunities in Reno that whole time,” Scruggs said. “Westmount is a value-add real estate investor, and we are looking for value-add opportunities. Historically, there have not been that many value-add opportunities (in Reno). This one fits well within our investment strategy.”

Westmount typically seeks to acquire portfolios of light industrial facilities with a diverse mix of tenants rather than single-property acquisitions with one large tenant in order to better manage asset-level risk, he added.

“We are spreading the risk across a portfolio of buildings that has a rent role that goes with it,” Scruggs said.

The properties at 350 (210,450 square feet), 360 (85,566 square feet) and 450 (513,122) Lillard Drive were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The properties have 24 to 26-foot clear heights, drive-in loading, and access to a Union Pacific Rail spur.

“They have the physical features of modern Class-A real estate,” Scruggs said. “They are attractive precast concrete buildings.

“The typical (capital expenditures) that need to be invested in these types of buildings has already been completed,” he added. “All three buildings have roofs that were replaced within the last couple of years, and roof replacements is one of the largest capex items any industrial investor will be faced with. That was done by the seller a few years ago. It was a well-put-together portfolio.”

The Class B-plus warehouses did not have a lot of deferred maintenance, Scruggs said, so they won’t need common value-add improvements such as new paint, parking lot resurfacing and new roofing. The portfolio is 90 percent leased to a roster of international and regional supply chain logistics tenants, Westmount said in a press release.

Westmount Realty Capital’s value-add strategy has two components, he said. Leasing the vacant space is the first, and bringing expiring leases up to market rates is the second. Following the pandemic, Reno was the ninth-fastest market globally for industrial rent growth, Prologis reported, and that meteoric rise in rental rates created an imbalance between in-place and current market rents.

“There will be some opportunity to grow rents, but primarily we are looking at the lease-up opportunity,” Scruggs said. 

Will Strong, executive vice chair of Cushman and Wakefield, who works in the company’s Phoenix office, brokered the deal. Locally, the Cushman & Wakefield industrial team of Mike Nevis and Shawn Jaenson will handle leasing and lease renewal negotiations at the Lillard Drive properties for Westmount Realty Capital.

Cliff Booth, founder and chairman of Westmount Realty Capital, said in a statement that the acquisition reflects Westmount’s continued conviction in infill industrial markets that benefit from strong demand and long-term logistics relevance.

“The Reno-Sparks region checks all the boxes we look for: strong fundamentals, strategic connectivity, and opportunities to create value through hands-on asset management,” Booth said. “Lillard Drive is an excellent addition to our growing Western U.S. portfolio.”

Westmount typically seeks infill light industrial properties that are more closely located to the regional workforce and have easy freeway access, Scruggs added.

“These buildings are a stone’s throw away from the interchange with Interstate 80 and Sparks Boulevard,” he said. “Those infill locations with proximity to labor and transportation are important to us.”

Scruggs noted the recent softening in Northern Nevada’s industrial market – overall vacancy ticked up to around 11 percent near the end of 2025 – and limited supply of new industrial real estate will provide a tailwind for existing owners.

“Owners will see benefits from that with increasing occupancy and rent growth potential,” he said.