Adam Wicker of the Grubb & Ellis Newport Beach office says the union acquired the property for $3.2 million from the Childs Family partnership of New York City. Childs represented both the buyer and the seller.

The Teamsters' purchase is a two-story, wood frame building at 818 Oak Park Dr. The Joint Council will be relocating from 13,000 sf of leased space in El Monte in January 2004, according to Wicker.

The Teamsters' purchase illustrates a trend that a number of Los Angeles-area brokers have identified lately in which a growing variety of types of organizations are purchasing their own office and industrial buildings. The owner-user purchases initially were made primarily by small industrial users, brokers say, but continuing low interest rates and the cost-effectiveness of buying versus leasing have drawn private companies, non-profit organizations, educational organizations and other office users into the ranks of buyers.