RACER Trust Honors Ashley Capital with Inaugural RACER’s Edge Award
PITTSBURGH — RACER Trust presented Ashley Capital with the inaugural RACER’s Edge Award, in recognition of Ashley Capital’s success in redeveloping a former General Motors industrial property in Livonia, Mich.
The award was presented Tuesday evening at the National Brownfields Training Conference in Pittsburgh. Offered every two years, the conference, co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and International City/County Management Association, is the country’s largest gathering of stakeholders focused on cleaning up and reusing blighted and underutilized commercial and industrial properties throughout the U.S.
Ashley Capital purchased the former GM Delco Chassis Plant property from RACER Trust in 2015. The property was vacant for nearly two decades before Ashley Capital invested in its redevelopment. Today, the property is the site of a 1 million-square-foot Amazon.com regional fulfillment center — the company’s first in Michigan — and a 500,000-square-foot warehouse and offices that are being constructed by Republic National Distributing Company, one of the nation’s leading wholesale beverage alcohol distributors. Together, these projects represent a total investment of more than $125 million and more than 1,500 jobs.
“We are pleased and excited to recognize Ashley Capital’s outstanding work in returning this property to economic vibrancy, the results of which are enormously beneficial to the people of Livonia and greater Southeast Michigan,” said Elliott P. Laws, of EPLET, LLC, administrative trustee of RACER Trust. “Selecting a recipient of the inaugural RACER’s Edge Award was difficult, very difficult, which is a testament to the quality of buyers and end users that are acquiring and repurposing RACER Trust properties for productive reuse. To date, RACER Trust buyers have invested more than $519 million and created more than 4,500 jobs, with more to come. These projects are creating opportunities for workers, a sense of renewal for communities and new tax base to support schools and local governments. And in doing so, helping RACER Trust fulfill our critical economic development mission.”
“Ashley Capital works diligently to create value for our tenants and opportunities for communities with a disciplined investing strategy that is backed by industry-leading construction, property management, leasing and financing expertise,” said Rick Morton, Principal with Ashley Capital’s Midwest Region office in Detroit. “We take great pride in the work we do to benefit communities throughout the Eastern United States, and we are grateful to be recognized with the inaugural RACER’s Edge Award.”
“I congratulate and thank Ashley Capital for its excellent work to redevelop this long-vacant property and create good-paying, new jobs for local workers,” Livonia Mayor Dennis Wright said. “Ashley Capital has made a significant, positive impact with its developments in our community, and we are pleased to welcome and support this additional investment.”
“RACER Trust’s mandate is to seek buyers who will maximize a property’s redevelopment potential for the benefit of communities that were hit hard by the loss of automotive manufacturing jobs. By working closely with private-sector champions like Ashley Capital, as well as with local elected officials and economic development partners, RACER is successfully carrying out its mandate,” said David Lloyd, Director of the EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization. “We congratulate Ashley Capital for its fine work in Livonia and elsewhere. Ashley Capital is a worthy recipient of the inaugural RACER’s Edge Award.”
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 Ashley Capital: For more than three decades, Ashley Capital has created value by being both disciplined and opportunistic in its investment strategy. Its construction, property management, leasing and financing expertise have placed it among the largest privately held real estate investment companies in the country. Ashley’s portfolio currently stands at more than 22 million square feet, with properties concentrated throughout the eastern half of the United States, including several industrial and commercial properties in Michigan. For more information, please visit www.ashleycapital.com.