James Muhlfeld, Mark Chu, Howard Cho and Justin Kundrak

For Eastdil Secured Savills Managing Directors James Muhlfeld, Mark Chu and Howard Cho and Director Justin Kundrak, operating at the leading edge of logistics and digital infrastructure investments has been a team effort. 

As of late August, the team was actively advising on $7.5 billion of equity fundraises and $8 billion of associated financings across logistics and digital infrastructure. Among that work was a $3.25 billion equity fundraise for Digital Realty’s first-ever U.S. hyperscale fund, closed by Chu and Cho.

The team assisted on more than $35 billion of digital infrastructure transactions last year, according to Cho. The asset class remains a massive growth engine for Eastdil Secured — as of late August, Muhlfeld and Kundrak had more than $12 billion of data center financings on their desks. 

Muhlfeld and Kundrak’s work in financing and structured debt solutions has been increasingly devoted to digital infrastructure. They advise across project life cycles, from land acquisitions to stabilized financing.

Much of that work has been in concert with Chu and Cho, on equity vehicles and joint venture capitalizations.

“As that business line continues to grow, we think this year is going to be multiples of what we were able to accomplish last year, and will continue to be a very massive part of our business in L.A. and across the firm globally,” Kundrak said.

It’s been a major year for logistics, too, from outdoor storage to distribution warehouses. Chu and Cho recently closed AmeriCold and EQT’s $1.3 billion strategic joint venture recapitalization of a cold-storage portfolio, and Muhlfeld and Kundrak’s work has encompassed more than $13 billion of logistics financings year-to-date.

Southern California’s industrial upswing is exemplified by the region’s growing defense technology sector, Muhlfeld said, but he acknowledged that distress remains throughout the region’s asset classes.

“You’ve got some fundamental issues in different pockets, like multifamily, because of supply or because of the high rate complex,” Muhlfeld said, referring to interest rates. “But, generally, this is the strongest year we’ve had as a market since 2021 and early 2022.”