ONTARIO, CA-Three buyers have paid $27.15 million for office,industrial and retail properties in three separate transactionsthat have closed here and in Lake Elsinore in recent weeks in aseries of Inland Empire deals. The properties that changed handsincluded a two-building multi-tenant professional office complextotaling 125,497 square feet at Ontario Gateway, a45,560-square-foot retail building fully occupied by L.A. Fitnessin Lake Elsinore and two industrial and flex buildings totaling129,690 square feet at the Business Park at Belmont in Ontario.

In the Ontario Gateway sale, the Lee & Associates InvestmentServices Group reports that an investment group bought the twobuildings from Jefferson-Pilot Investments Inc. for $8.75 million.Ontario Gateway "was on the market for just three months and drew15 offers, reflecting the high investor demand,” said EdwardIndvik, vice chairman of Lee ISG. The Lee team, which representedboth the buyer and the seller, included Indvik and Lee ISG foundingprincipal Matthew Sullivan along with senior vice president DavidMudge and associate Julia Corona-Thompson of the Lee &Associates Inland Empire Office Group in Riverside.

Sullivan noted that the majority of interest received was fromhigh-net-worth individuals as well as off-shore investors. “We werealso able to stabilize the property prior to taking it to market,and that helped our marketing efforts as well,” Sullivan added.