Mark Latimer and Patrick Bogan, both with Insignia/ESG's San Gabriel Valley-Inland Empire office in Diamond Bar, say the Glendale-based company sold the portfolio in a series of transactions that included eight sales to owner-users and an investment sale of five properties. Latimer and Bogan represented PS in all of the transactions.

Terms of the sales were not disclosed, but public documents filed by PS Business Parks indicate the company acquired the portfolio for $14.4 million in December 2000 and has sold the properties at a profit. At the time PS acquired the portfolio, Insignia's Latimer and Bogan were the leasing agents for the properties, which are situated adjacent to and backing up to the 60 Freeway off Johnson Drive, Bixy Drive, Darius Court and Marion Court.

Bogan says he and Latimer advised PS that selling the buildings was a better choice than continuing to offer them for lease. He explains that the Insignia brokers considered selling a better strategy because demand for industrial buildings to purchase remains strong, but the economic slump has slowed leasing in the San Gabriel Valley since early 2002, leaving some of the PS buildings vacant.

The closing of the recent sales, Bogan says, generated "a substantial profit" for PS Business Parks, a publicly traded real estate company involved in acquisitions, development, leasing and property management. The PS portfolio of owned or managed properties comprises 15.9 million sf of industrial, office, retail and flex properties located in 10 states. The company owns approximately 14.4 million sf of the properties and manages the remaining 1.5 million sf for other owners. Its core markets include Northern and Southern California, Texas, Oregon, Maryland and Northern Virginia.