Raleigh Acquires 200,000 SF for $17M

In the Commerce deal, Raleigh completed a purchase option on its 112,000-sf leased facility at 5945 Malt Ave. for $9.2 million. In the Sylmar transaction, the company paid more than $7.8 million for a property at 12800 Foothill Blvd.

Chuck Littell, associate vice president of Colliers Private Capital Advisors in Torrance, reports that Raleigh acquired the Commerce property from Chalmers Equity Group, an industrial development firm. CEG developed 5945 Malt Ave. as a build-to-suit for Raleigh's File Keepers LLC, division in 2005. Littell represented Raleigh in both the Commerce and Sylmar acquisitions. CEG, headquartered in Pico Riviera, was represented by its chief financial officer, James Devling, in the Commerce deal.

Mark Rosenthal, president of Raleigh, notes that the Sylmar transaction "required the simultaneous resolution of a multitude of variables." Raleigh acquired the 83,500-sf Sylmar building from Pacific Charter Schools. According to Littell, Huntington Park, CA-based PCS originally bought the site for a new charter school. However, during construction to convert the property from a warehouse into a school, it became evident that the City of Los Angeles would not allow the rezoning necessary to change the use, and PCS decided it was best to dispose of the asset.

Littell says that Raleigh's purchase of the two properties will help accomplish both of the firm's long-term business goals: owning its facilities and continually improving its real estate efficiencies. He adds that finding the Commerce and Sylmar sites "took considerable effort" because they are both in very tight markets. In the Sylmar building sale, Brenton Weirick, senior vice president in the Colliers International Encino office, represented PCS.