Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing Acquires $158.5 Million Ace Hardware Distribution Facility in Kansas City from Hunt Midwest

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing has acquired a newly developed, 1.5 million-square-foot distribution facility in Kansas City, Missouri, for $158.5 million, the firm announced Aug. 11. The Class A logistics asset, located at 13231 NW Roanridge Road within KCI 29 Logistics Park, is subject to a long-term net lease with Ace Hardware and was purchased from Hunt Midwest in an off-market transaction brokered by Mark Long and John Hassler of Newmark Zimmer.

Deal Details and Asset Profile

The acquisition was made through investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, the global private real estate investment management business of Morgan Stanley Investment Management. The implied price equates to approximately $103 per square foot based on the building's 1,536,045 square feet of gross building area. No cap rate was publicly disclosed.

The facility, completed in 2025 as a build-to-suit for Ace Hardware, represents the first phase of development at KCI 29 Logistics Park, a 3,300-acre megasite capable of supporting up to 20 million square feet of industrial facilities. The building sits on roughly 103 acres and stretches approximately half a mile end-to-end, making it the largest distribution center in the Kansas City region by building footprint.

Physically, the facility features a cross-dock configuration, 40-foot clear height and extensive power capacity. Ace Hardware has invested significantly in automation and warehouse technology within the building, which it operates as a Retail Support Center serving more than 5,000 stores nationwide. The park is adjacent to Kansas City International Airport and near the intersection of I-29 and I-435, providing direct access to regional and national freight corridors.

Tenant Credit and Strategic Rationale

Ace Hardware, the world's largest hardware cooperative, operates more than 5,300 locally owned and operated stores across more than 60 countries. The Kansas City facility functions as a primary national distribution hub, and its scale — nearly twice the size of Ace's average distribution center — reflects a major supply chain investment by the cooperative.

David Gross, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, characterized the acquisition as consistent with the firm's focus on net lease assets backed by strong tenant credit and operationally critical real estate.

"This acquisition reflects our continued conviction in high-quality net lease investments that combine strong tenant credit, mission-critical operations and institutional-quality real estate," Gross said. "The facility is a best-in-class, highly automated logistics asset strategically located in Kansas City, one of the country's most important distribution markets."

The transaction aligns with MSREI's stated strategy of investing in mission-critical real estate leased to high-quality tenants, adding a single-tenant, fully occupied asset to its net lease portfolio.

Hunt Midwest and KCI 29 Logistics Park

Hunt Midwest, a privately held Kansas City-based real estate development company, developed the Ace Hardware facility as a build-to-suit and serves as master developer of KCI 29 Logistics Park. The company has more than six decades of experience across industrial, self-storage, residential, multifamily and senior living properties and has developed more than $3 billion in projects across multiple markets. Hunt Midwest is part of the Lamar Hunt family's portfolio of businesses.

Combined investment by Hunt Midwest and Ace Hardware in the facility totals more than $276.5 million, separate from Morgan Stanley's acquisition price. The project is expected to create 300 to 350 new jobs. The Ace Hardware building is the first completed structure at KCI 29 Logistics Park, which is positioned as Missouri's largest contiguous industrial megasite.

Kansas City Industrial Market Context

The acquisition comes as the Kansas City industrial market maintains relatively tight vacancy conditions. Industrial vacancy in the market stood at approximately 5.0% in early 2026, a level that has remained consistently below national averages. The off-market structure of the transaction, facilitated by Newmark Zimmer brokers Mark Long and John Hassler, reflects demand among institutional investors for large-format, credit-tenanted net lease industrial assets that rarely reach the open market.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing currently manages $58 billion of gross real estate assets worldwide and maintains 17 offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Morgan Stanley Investment Management, its parent, oversees more than $2 trillion in assets under management or supervision as of June 30, 2026.

Sources

Morgan Stanley Investment Management — Press Release: Distribution Facility Acquisition