Griffin Appoints New Chairman and Additional Director

Gordon DuGan to join Griffin as Chairman of the Board

Molly North appointed a Director

NEW YORK, March 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Griffin Industrial Realty, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRIF) (“Griffin” or the “Company”) has appointed Gordon F. DuGan as a Director and Non-executive Chairman of its Board of Directors and Molly North as Director effective March 3, 2020.  Mr. DuGan is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gramercy Property Trust (“Gramercy”), an industrial-focused REIT that was acquired by Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII in 2018.  Ms. North is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Al. Neyer, LLC (“Al. Neyer”), a commercial real estate development and design-build construction firm. Frederick “Mike” Danziger, Griffin’s former Chairman, will continue to serve as a Director, and Michael Gamzon will remain Griffin’s President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), and a Director.  In connection with the appointments of Mr. DuGan and Ms. North, Griffin increased the size of its Board of Directors to nine members.  

Gordon F. DuGan
Michael Gamzon, President & CEO of Griffin commented, “We are delighted to have Gordon join as our Chairman. As the former CEO of Gramercy and, prior to that, W.P. Carey & Co., Gordon brings to our Board a wealth of experience within the industrial real estate sector and in the capital markets, as well as a deep knowledge of building and growing a high-performing, publicly-traded company.” Under Mr. DuGan’s leadership, Gramercy’s enterprise value¹ grew from approximately $400 million in 2012 to $7.6 billion, with a property portfolio of over 81 million square feet, at the time of its sale to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII in October 2018.  Over that same time period, Gramercy was the 3^rd best performing equity REIT in the United States with a 251% total return to shareholders.

“I am very excited to join Griffin’s Board as Chairman,” said Mr. DuGan. “Griffin has a strong platform in place with high-quality, well-located industrial assets and a history of executing successful developments and acquisitions.  I look forward to working with Michael and the team to grow Griffin’s logistics portfolio and maximize stockholder value.”

Mr. DuGan has over 25 years of experience in the real estate industry.  Mr. DuGan currently serves as the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Blackbrook Capital Limited, a European-focused property investor specializing in sale-leasebacks and build-to-suit investments in industrial assets, since February 2020 and as Chairman of GreenAcreage Real Estate Corp., a REIT that provides sale-leaseback and construction financing to companies operating in the cannabis industry, since June 2019.  Mr. DuGan served as Chief Executive Officer of Gramercy from June 2012 to October 2018.  Prior to Gramercy, Mr. DuGan served as President and then Chief Executive Officer of W.P. Carey & Co., one of the largest net lease REITs in the United States, from 1999 to 2010.  Mr. DuGan received his B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.