Ex-retailer forms company to expand DC space

Box Equities, a new company started by Gitano co-founder Haim Dabah, has acquired two distribution centers in its efforts to help retailers secure hard-to-find industrial real estate.

The 900,000-sq.-ft. Home Depot DC in Missouri and the 150,000-sq.-ft. Pepsi DC in Ohio bring the 8-month-old company’s portfolio to 1.8 million sq. ft. in a real estate sector where rents are rising by 20% and new space under construction is not enough to fill the need created by the expansion of e-commerce.

“Understanding how the pivot to digital has affected many traditional retailers, we knew that the time was right to create a paradigm shift within the logistics industry for both brick-and-mortar and digital retailers alike,” said Dabah, who sold his sportswear company Regatta USA to Li & Fung in 2007 and stayed on to run the company’s women’s business in the U.S. as group president.

Box Equities co-founders Mac Dabah and Ori Schwartz are commercial real estate veterans who bring logistics and acquisition experience to the fold.

“We are laser-focused on unlocking significant value for retailers and brands wishing to expand or downsize their industrial,” said Mac Dabah. “Just recently, we acquired a 200,000-square-foot facility from the local economic development authority in Georgia.”

A press release states that Box Equities' premise is to use its retail, real estate, and logistics experience to help retail companies “unlock their balance sheets in a myriad of ways, including through creative leasing solutions.”