JERSEY CITY-Wilshire Enterprises Inc., based here, has put its remaining real estate holdings on the market as the company looks to refocus on such Sun Belt states as Arizona, Florida and Texas. The company is looking to sell the five properties as a portfolio, rather than individually, and has put an asking price of $26.5 million on the package.

"Our stated objective has been to optimize the value of our asset base and over the past year the company has been investing in and repositioning select assets in anticipation of a potential divestiture," says Sherry Wilzig Izak, Wilshire's chairman and CEO. "The divestiture of the New Jersey portfolio reflects our strategy of rationalizing our investment portfolio into a few core markets. If opportunities arise, we plan to continue divesting our non-core assets."

The New Jersey properties on the block include the 132-unit Alpine Village apartment complex on 17.5 acres in Sussex County; the 41-unit Galsworthy Arms Condominiums in Monmouth County; the 18-unit Jefferson Gardens Condominiums; the Rutherford Bank branch on 1.8 acres in Lake Hopatcong; and a .5-acre site in West Orange. The holdings have been listed with Marcus & Millichap, which has its New Jersey office in Elmwood Park.

Wilshire is also looking to do a 1031 exchange with the possible sale of its New Jersey holdings. Specifically, the company is planning to reinvest the proceeds from the potential sale as part of a tax-deferred exchange into a multifamily property in Arizona, or in another market that it considers "core." Wilshire recently signed a contract to buy the Village at Gateway Pavilions, a 240-unit property built just this past year in Avondale, AZ. The contract price is $28.1 million.

The Arizona purchase, pending due diligence and the assumption of HUD financing, is expected to close in January 2006. Company officials hope to move the New Jersey portfolio during Q4 of 2005. "We are continuing to evaluate the acquisition of assets in our core markets, particularly if we are able to defer paying taxes resulting from a gain from the sale of a property by acquiring a new property as part of a 1031 exchange," Izak says.