All told, the company quietly spent $35.77 million on the transactions between late September and early November, according to records provided by Oregon Title Insurance Co. It wasn't until GlobeSt.com started asking around this week that Corporate Property Services principal Tom Hayes, who represented Credence in the transactions, produced a press release--detailing one of the two purchases--that had been signed off on by Credence's director of finance Jeff West but not yet released.

The confidence of its future in Oregon comes from last year's increase in demand for automatic semiconductor testing equipment and related software--Credence's specialty. After several years of generating around $200 million in annual sales, the company in fiscal 2000 (ended Oct. 31, 2000) generated $679.7 million in revenue. As a result, profit totaled $140.4 million as opposed to 1999's $2.5 million loss. "We're clearly not going to triple every year," West tells GlobeSt.com. "But in next up cycle, there will be clearly be a need for expansion."

Meantime, to meet immediate needs, the company also has leased an additional 31,000-sf of warehouse space in the nearby Northern Tier Business Park at 1800 NE 25th. Skip Stanton with HSM Pacific represented Northern Tier Development in the lease, and Grubb & Ellis' Cliff Finnell represented Credence.

The acquisition from PacTrust included a three-story, 71-265-sf office building and a 112,050-sf manufacturing and warehouse facility on 10.8 acres in the Five Oaks West development, as well as 18.4 acres of vacant Five Oaks West property adjacent Highway 26. The aggregate purchase price was $31,302,848, according to Oregon Title.

Credence had only begun leasing its Five Oaks space in August, says Hayes, allowing it to consolidate its engineering and manufacturing facilities in the Portland area, along with their administrative and services divisions. The company leases an additional 140,000 sf in Fremont, CA for its headquarters and relatively tiny field offices all over the world, but about 60% of its 1,463-person workforce is located in Hillsboro.

The most recent transaction was the land purchase about one-quarter mile down Jacobson Road from Five Oaks. The company purchase 17.84 acres for $4,469,136 from Five Oaks Partners LLC. More detail on the property and the seller was not immediately available. West says the company has no ground-breakings scheduled. "We're going through the whole project planning phase right now," he says.

Portland-based PacTrust was formed in 1972 as a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust under the sponsorship of US Bancorp. It concentrates primarily on the development and long-term ownership of commercial and industrial real estate. In 1983, the company went private and changed from a REIT to a limited partnership with local management continuing on as general partner, according to the company's Web site.

PacTrust now owns over 12 million sf of buildings, and is one of the Pacific Northwest's largest real estate developers and investment property owners. PacTrust also has resort, agricultural and energy interests located primarily in Central Oregon and Northern California, and is the managing member of PAC/SIB LLC. Formed in August 1996 with the Washington State Investment Board, PAC/SIB holds and manages approximately 4.5 million sf of office, industrial and retail property located in Orange County, Sacramento and San Jose, CA; Chicago; Boston; Austin and Dallas, TX; Fairfax County, VA; and Seattle, WA. The portfolio includes development land in Chicago, and in Dallas and Coppell, TX.

Instant Insights /

Credence Systems Corp. Lays Down $35.77 Mil to Buy Offices, Warehouse, Expansion Space

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