The seller, Equastone of La Jolla, CA, two years purchased the four-story building at 202 East Earll Dr. for $5 million. It was 70% occupied at the time.

Equastone CEO Chad Carpenter says the original plan was to fix up the building, lease it up and then sell it. But, the strategy changed after Equastone more closely examined the market and determined the demand for office condominiums.

"We listed the property with Shea [Shea Commercial Properties Inc. of Scottsdale] to do the condo sales. We mapped it and started the marketing process and completed TIs to get it ready," Capenter says. "Then the buyer came along and asked if he could buy the whole thing."

The buyer, 202 E. Earll LLC, an affiliate of Kaufman Properties of Thousand Oaks, CA, will continue the condo conversion in conjunction with Shea Commercial. "We sold the entire property for a discount and the discount beat our business plan targets," Carpenter tells GlobeSt.com. "It was an overall win-win situation."

Howard Berger of Berger Investment Group Inc. in Phoenix represented the buyer. Tina Burger and Angie West with Shea Commercial represented Equastone in the transaction.