RACER Trust Reaches Agreement with IRG for Sale of Buildings and Land in Pontiac, Mich.

PONTIAC, MICH. (12/17/2014)(readMedia)-- RACER Trust today announced it has reached an agreement with Industrial Realty Group (IRG) for the purchase and redevelopment of more than 1.7 million square feet of building space and approximately 154 acres in Pontiac.

IRG is under contract to purchase both the Pontiac Centerpoint Campus West and the adjacent Pontiac Centerpoint Campus Central properties from RACER. Pontiac Centerpoint Campus West consists of a 533,000-square-foot building and approximately 79.7 acres. Pontiac Centerpoint Campus Central has a 1.2 million-square-foot building and 74 acres.

IRG said it plans to renovate the buildings for manufacturing and office tenants. Other companies have expressed interest in new development and construction on the properties, including automotive and energy-related businesses. The project is expected to create hundreds of new jobs once it is complete.

"IRG is a nationally recognized leader in the adaptive reuse of commercial and industrial real estate, and its record of job creation and economic revitalization is extraordinary. We congratulate IRG and the Pontiac area, and look forward to seeing these properties returned to productive use," said Elliott P. Laws, of EPLET, LLC, Administrative Trustee of RACER Trust. "IRG has been an excellent partner to RACER as we carry out our economic redevelopment mission, and I am confident that IRG's investments will be broadly beneficial to Pontiac and Oakland County."

IRG purchased from RACER the former Moraine Assembly Plant in Moraine, Ohio, in 2011, and has since sold 1.2 million square feet to Fuyao North America Inc., which will manufacture automotive glass and expects to hire up to 1,000 people. IRG also is the primary lessee of the former Shreveport Assembly and Stamping Plant in Caddo Parish, La., another former RACER property.

"We're very excited that this opportunity was available and eager to get started," said Stuart Lichter, President and Chairman of the Board of IRG. "This is exactly the kind of work our company specializes in, and I look forward to preparing these properties for reuse and jobs as quickly as possible."

"IRG is world-renowned for creative and productive reuse of former industrial properties, and I could not be more pleased to welcome Mr. Lichter and his team to Pontiac," Pontiac Mayor Dr. Deirdre Waterman said. "Pontiac is in the midst of an economic rebirth, driven by private investors who see the many benefits of doing business in our community. We are very excited by what's happening in Pontiac, and thrilled that very successful businesses and individuals share our view of Pontiac as a community that is ready to embrace and support investment and new jobs."

"RACER Trust continues to meet its mission to make these properties productive, job-providing sites again," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said. "IRG has an excellent reputation for converting industrial locations to new uses. There is no doubt they are poised to contribute to the economic growth of Oakland County."

About RACER Trust: RACER (Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response) Trust was created to clean up and position for redevelopment properties and other facilities owned by the former General Motors Corp. before its 2009 bankruptcy. RACER is one of the largest holders of industrial property in the United States and is the largest environmental response and remediation trust in U.S. history. When the Trust was formed, it owned properties at 89 locations in 14 states, principally in the Midwest and Northeast. The Trust was created by a settlement agreement in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court between the U.S. Government, the 14 states where the former GM properties are located, and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, which owns land adjoining one of the properties in Upstate New York. For more information, please visit our website: www.racertrust.org.

About Industrial Realty Group, LLC: Industrial Realty Group, LLC, is a privately held real estate development and investment firm specializing in the acquisition, development and management of commercial and industrial real estate across the country. Over the past 40 years, IRG and its principals have acquired or developed well in excess of a billion dollars of corporate and government properties. IRG manages more than 150 properties in 28 states, with more than 100 million square feet of rentable space. IRG manages all aspects of the real estate process, from acquisition through development, asset management and disposition. For more information, please visit www.industrialrealtygroup.com.