Private Investor Acquires 402,000-SF Portfolio From Watson Land Co.

LOS ANGELES-A locally based private investor has acquired a four-building portfolio of office and R&D properties totaling 402,425 sf from the Carson-based Watson Land Co., according to Colliers International. The buildings are 100% leased to tenants that include Northrop Grumman, the County of Los Angeles and L-3 Communications, a merchant supplier for the defense electronics and communications industry.Both Watson and the buyer were represented by a Colliers team that included Michael Ross, Fred Cordova and Steve Nanino of the company's Downtown Los Angeles office, Stephen Cramer of the Colliers International South Bay office and Charles Wilson of the company's Anaheim office.Watson Land Co. president and CEO Bruce Choate describes the portfolio as non-core properties. The company sold the portfolio as part of "a long-term growth strategy that targets the acquisition and development of industrial projects in key Southern California markets," he says.Choate says that the demand for commercial real estate properties today "affords us the opportunity to divest of a few assets in our portfolio that are not in line with our core business." The proceeds from the sale of the four non-core properties will be reallocated to the company's acquisition program, he says.The four buildings are at 18701 Wilmington Ave. and 1815 University Dr. in Carson, 4060 Watson Plaza Dr. in Lakewood and 901 E. Ball Rd. in Anaheim. Northrop Grumman occupies the two Carson buildings, which total 212,000 sf. The County of Los Angeles occupies the 71,450-sf Lakewood building, and L-3 is the tenant in the 118,975-sf Anaheim building.Terms of the deal were undisclosed. According to a Colliers International report on the Southern California industrial market in the fourth quarter of 2005, the average asking sales price for buildings in the range of 70,000 sf to 99,000 sf in the South Bay submarket was $81 per sf in the fourth quarter. The report pegged the asking rate at $103 per sf for Orange County industrial buildings in that size range.