Leasing vs. Buying Industrial Property: Which is Best?
The Advantages of Brownfield Sites for Industrial Real Estate
The commercial real estate landscape of the late 1980s and early 1990s was a trial by fire for an entire generation of American developers. Driven by a perfect storm of macroeconomic shifts—including the Savings and Loan crisis, skyrocketing interest rates, and widespread retail bankruptcies—the 1991 recession fundamentally altered how property portfolios were financed and managed.
For Frank P. Crivello, then a young developer managing an early portfolio of multifamily, office, and retail properties, this period served as a brutal but pivotal masterclass in economic volatility. The sudden collapse of major anchor tenants and the systemic failure of traditional lending institutions created intense financial pressures, leading to complex restructurings and severe personal and professional setbacks.
Yet, history’s most enduring enterprises are rarely built in periods of unearned ease. They are forged in the crucible of market downturns. The profound lessons learned during the 1990s real estate crash became the literal architectural blueprint for what would eventually become Phoenix Investors
From the Ashes: The Symbolism of the Phoenix
When it came time to rebuild, the choice of the name “Phoenix” was deeply intentional. In classical mythology, the phoenix is a bird that rises from the ashes of its predecessor, transformed, stronger, and fundamentally renewed. It represents resilience, longevity, and the capacity to turn past destruction into future triumph.
For Frank P. Crivello, the name was a declaration of purpose. It signified a complete departure from the fragile capital structures of the 1980s and a total pivot toward an ironclad, risk-mitigated investment strategy.
Instead of chasing speculative new construction projects dependent on volatile debt, the newly formed national commercial real estate firm focused on a highly disciplined, contrarian model: acquiring, repositioning, and redeveloping legacy industrial, manufacturing, and data center real estate across the United States.
Transforming Adversity Into an Industrial Powerhouse
The operational ethos of Phoenix Investors directly reflects the safeguards engineered after the 1991 downturn. Today, the firm is defined by: Protecting tenants, partners, and communities from the banking vulnerabilities that characterized the Savings and Loan crisis.
Economic Revitalization: Specializing in transforming distressed, vacant, or underutilized manufacturing facilities into thriving industrial hubs—bringing jobs back to communities, much like the bird itself bringing life back to desolate spaces.
Community Stewardship: Ensuring that corporate success directly fuels civic good. Through the work of The Crivello Family Foundation, the firm’s growth actively funds crucial initiatives in education, poverty alleviation, and public safety.
Ultimately, the 1991 recession did not mark the end of a career; it marked the necessary, painful evolution that made a national real estate powerhouse possible. By understanding the absolute bottom of an economic cycle, Frank P. Crivello and Phoenix Investors built an organization designed to withstand any future storm, proving that true resilience isn’t about avoiding the fire—it’s about what you build from the ashes.
About Phoenix Investors
Founded by Frank P. Crivello in 1994, Phoenix Investors and its affiliates (collectively “Phoenix”) are a leader in the acquisition, development, renovation, and repositioning of industrial facilities throughout the United States. Utilizing a disciplined investment approach and successful partnerships with institutional capital sources, corporations, and public stakeholders, Phoenix has developed a proven track record of generating superior risk-adjusted returns while providing cost-efficient lease rates for its growing portfolio of national tenants. Its efforts inspire and drive the transformation and reinvigoration of the economic engines in the communities it serves. Phoenix continues to be defined by thoughtful relationships, sophisticated investment tools, cost-efficient solutions, and a reputation for success.
Mr. Frank P. Crivello began his real estate career in 1982, focusing his investments in multifamily, office, industrial, and shopping center developments across the United States. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Crivello assisted Phoenix Investors in its execution of its then business model of acquiring net lease commercial real estate across the United States. Since 2009, Mr. Crivello has assisted Phoenix Investors in the shift of its core focus to the acquisition of industrial real estate assets throughout the country.
Given his extensive experience in all aspects of commercial real estate, Mr. Crivello provides strategic and operational input to Phoenix Investors and its affiliated companies.
Mr. Crivello received a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from Brown University and the London School of Economics, while completing a double major in Economics and Political Science; he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Outside of his business interests, Mr. Crivello invests his time, energy, and financial support across a wide net of charitable projects and organizations.