CORE, the largest integrated commercial real estate firm in Northern New England, today announced the groundbreaking success of its first acquisitions vehicle. The firm closed its Kliner Industries acquisition investment vehicle in December 2025 with a 28.4% internal rate of return (IRR).
“We’re extremely proud of this outcome for our investors and partners,” said Josh Soley, President of CORE. “When we first launched the CORE Acquisitions division, we knew we were forging new ground in the industry. We were introducing a new institutional model to Maine, bringing in local investors, using local assets, and setting out to deliver outcomes that were simply unheard of in this market. It’s gratifying to have not only hit but surpassed these goals.”
CORE’s Acquisitions division officially launched in July 2024. Nimble and opportunistic, it set out to reduce the barrier to entry to a wide array of local investors interested in diversifying their portfolios by entering the commercial real estate market. By leveraging its own in-house team of management, development, brokerage, underwriting, and risk assessment experts, CORE offered investors and partners an innovative opportunity to deliver competitive yield and fee structures.
The groundwork for the division had already been laid two years earlier when CORE formed Kliner Industries to acquire 15 Starrett Drive in Belfast, ME, which it purchased on May 4, 2022, for $2 million. The 18,850-square-foot neighborhood shopping center is prominently located at the entrance to Belfast and anchored by Belfast Drug Company. Additional tenants included New China, Sherwin-Williams, Rent-A-Center, Goodwill, and U.S. Cellular.
Equity for the project totaled $700,000 and was raised from seven local investors. The acquisition was supported by $1.3 million in debt financing from Bangor Savings Bank, a long-standing CORE lending partner.
CORE sold the property on December 19, 2025, for $2.8 million, delivering exceptional results to its investors. The project achieved a 28.4% IRR and a 2.41x equity multiple. Investors received a 10% annual return throughout the hold period, with quarterly distributions beginning immediately following acquisition.
Since launching the division, CORE has acquired more than 40 properties. It has raised more than $50 million in total capital, with 90% coming from individual investors and $10 million raised in the past year alone.
With its first investment vehicle seeing spectacular results, CORE is now focused on its next investment asset. At disposition, the firm executed a 1031 exchange to strategically defer capital gains taxes from the Belfast property and redeploy the capital toward its next opportunity. CORE’s next asset is a major property in downtown Portland; the official announcement will be shortly forthcoming.
Josh Soley first founded CORE in 2017, and by 2026 the company has made more than $1 billion in sales. He is a leader in investment sales and has facilitated high-profile transactions in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, including sales and leases in excess of $750M. In 2024, CoStar honored Josh for the second time as a Power Broker for topping the industry in sales. In 2022, MaineBiz named Josh on their 40 Under 40 list of dynamic individuals changing Maine’s economy.