Lowe Closes Nearly 75,000-SF Sale-Leaseback

EL MONTE, CA-Lowe Enterprises of Los Angeles has entered the San Gabriel Valley industrial market with the acquisition of five buildings totaling 73,276-sf from Minnesota-based Pentair, a diversified operating company that specialized in water treatment and storage systems. The buildings that Lowe bought serve as office, manufacturing and warehouse space for Pentair Water Pool and Spa, a manufacturer of pool and spa equipment. Pentair will continue to occupy the buildings under a sale-leaseback.Terms of the sale-leaseback were not disclosed, but recent market reports suggest that sales prices are nudging $120 per sf for class A industrial building. Market reports peg the average asking lease rates for industrial space at somewhere between 45 cents and 50 cents per sf per month in the San Gabriel Valley.Rick Newman, president of Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group's western region, says the company has been looking for in-fill industrial properties like the Pentair property and has several other transactions pending in the San Gabriel Valley market. In addition to deals like the sale-leaseback with Pentair, Newman says Lowe is looking for "buildings that may need to be repositioned as well as development opportunities." Lowe's new buildings are at 3219 Durfee Ave. and 12202 Garvey Ave. The Durfee Avenue site includes two buildings totaling 36,402 sf, while Garvey Avenue consists of two industrial buildings totaling 32,743 sf, along with a 4,131-sf office building. Both are served by secure concrete side yards with outside storage. Among the attractions of the El Monte property was the city's "very business-friendly environment," according to Jamie Daugherty, SVP of Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group. Strong space demand and a lack of developable land have significantly reduced industrial building options in the city, he says. Pentair was represented by Lyn Eisenhower, Scott Wilcott, Lynn Knox and Chuck Caturia of CB Richard Ellis.