Birtcher, Hanover Venture Sells Project for $32M

CHINO, CA-Birtcher Development & Investments of Irvine and Los Angeles-based Hanover Financial Co. have sold the 214,000-sf Chino Spectrum Business Center to the Warmington Group of Costa Mesa for $32 million after buying the property for $20.2 million and holding it for 32 months. The project is an industrial development totaling 214,000 sf at 3811 Schaefer Ave. that Birtcher and Hanover acquired and held through a joint venture called HB Chino Roswell LLC.The joint venture acquired the property in August 2003. The development, which was 97% occupied at the time of the sale, comprises 12 buildings at a site along State Route 71 and just south of Highway 60.Chino Spectrum houses 110 tenants in an area where growth during the last three years has brought about "a makeover in the surrounding neighborhood uses." The growth enabled the Birtcher-Hanover JV to increase rents appreciably during its holding period, according to Brandon Birtcher, president and sole owner of Birtcher Development & Investments.Birtcher says the continuing growth in the area will benefit the new owners as well. "As Chino continues to benefit from growth out of the L.A. Basin, along with the organic growth of the Inland Empire, the new owners will benefit from rent escalation," he says.Birtcher is currently under contract or development for 123 acres in the Inland Empire totaling about $252 million worth of projects. Most recently, the company finished development of its eight-building Corona Crossroads industrial center. Steve Bellitti and Tom Taylor of Collier's Seeley represented the Warmington Group. Jim Morrison of the Morrison Co represented the sellers.