Shield Real Estate Investments & Advisory
Strategic guidance for investors, owners, and operators navigating the commercial real estate landscape.
Investment Advisory
Expert Guidance at Every Stage
Financial Modeling & Market Research
Building rigorous, deal-specific Excel and Argus based pro formas that stress-test assumptions and surface true risk-adjusted returns before you commit capital.
Asset Management
Hands-on asset management and investment reporting to maximize Net Operating Income (NOI), optimize lease structures, and protect long-term asset value.
Due Diligence Coordination
Orchestrating the full due diligence process across legal, physical, and financial workstreams, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks and your investment is secure.
Pitch Decks & Marketing
Crafting institutional-quality investment materials, including compelling pitch decks, offering memoranda, and marketing packages that tell your story and attract the right capital.
Investment Strategy
Shield Investments: A Focused Strategy
Shield targets the small-bay and flex industrial niche — one of the most supply-constrained, highest-performing segments in U.S. commercial real estate. Through disciplined acquisition and active value creation, we seek strong risk-adjusted returns in secondary Midwest and Southeast markets.
Shallow Bay & Flex Industrial
Buildings demisable to sub-10,000 SF dramatically reduce vacancy risk and re-leasing downtime. With new development near zero and existing stock trading well below replacement cost, the supply-demand imbalance is structural — not cyclical. Rent growth continues to outperform other industrial assets as vacancy tightens across the country.
Secondary Markets Midwest & Southeast
We believe in stable, secondary markets. Our target states include Ohio, Indiana, Florida, and the Carolinas.
Value-Add, Active Management
Our playbook spans four proven paths: lease-up and stabilization, mark-to-market rent resets, conversion of obsolete assets, and disciplined ground-up development in supply-constrained infill locations. Outside of our core markets, we partner with best-in-class operators and managers.
Multi-Tenant Strategy
Our multi-tenant approach staggers lease expirations, diversifies income across industries, and produces more resilient, consistent, and reliable cash flows.
About: Michael Plaspohl
Michael is a seasoned real estate investment professional with nearly 15 years of deep expertise in acquisitions, underwriting, and asset management. At Realife Management Group, he led the full investment lifecycle, growing the portfolio to over $400 million in assets and expanding the firm into 5 new markets throughout the Midwest and the Southeast. Prior to Realife, Michael worked at Weston Inc, a regional Industrial owner with over 20 million square feet under management.
A sample of transactions Michael has worked on through his career:
  • Centre Pointe, West Chester, OH - $64.5 million acquisition of a 5 building, 650,000 sf class A office portfolio.
  • Stout Field & Commerce Park, Indianapolis - a combined $22 million of off-market acquisitions of industrial warehouse, IOS, and flex properties, totaling 390,000 sf plus 4 acres of IOS.
  • Kissimmee Commerce Center - $22 million acquisition of a 2-building portfolio for industrial reposition, located in the Orlando market.
  • Corporate Woods, Blue Ash OH - $14 million acquisition of a 4-building, 200,000 sf flex portfolio in the Cincinnati market.
  • Park 100 Portfolio, Indianapolis - ~$130 million acquisition of a 7-building flex and warehouse industrial portfolio.
His extensive career spans private equity, banking, and brokerage. Michael holds an MBA from Cleveland State University and a BA from the University of Dayton. He is passionate about finding resilient, high-performing portfolios that go overlooked or are undervalued by most investors.
Get in Touch
Contact Shield Real Estate
We'd love to hear about your next project. Reach out today and let's start a conversation about how we can support your commercial real estate goals.
Phone
440-879-8054
Email
Mike@shieldrei.com