Food Firm Quadruples Via Industrial Buy

[IMGCAP(2)]The Chatsworth sale is one of the largest industrial sales that has taken place in the San Fernando Valley this year, according to senior vice president George Stavaris of Grubb & Ellis, who led a team including associate Colette Ramirez and associate vice president Darren Cline of Grubb & Ellis who represented the buyer. Dream Team Executive will be quadrupling in size, moving into the 60,511 square feet of space from 15,000 square feet in Sylmar.

[IMGCAP(3)]Stavaris says that the buyer is expected to be fully operational by the end of the month in the building, which is a freestanding structure at 9223 Owensmouth Ave. that was built in 2005. Dream Team acquired the property from a private investor who was represented by Ron Kassan of Beitler Commercial Realty Services.

Wilshire State Bank provided the financing for the transaction.According to Stavaris, the Small Business Administration's guarantee for the buyer's loan facilitated the transaction.

The 293,800-square-foot Watson Land Co. lease was a three-year, $6 million expansion that Tatung Co. of America, the US branch of Taiwan's Tatung Co., signed for a Watson building at 2000 E. Carson St. in the Watson Corporate Center. Tatung is one of the world's laregest manufacturers of personal computers, work stations, servers and display products.

Tatung for the past year has operated in a 129,000-square-foot Watson building in the Watson Industrial Center, as well as several other locations in Southern California. Tatung's newest 293,800-square-foot facility recently underwent a major renovation that included a new building façade, an upgraded sprinkler system and a newly designed interior office layout.

Tatung was represented by Chuck Brill of DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services. Watson Land Co. was represented by Lance Ryan and Mike Bodlovich.

In the third deal, a family trust has acquired a 32,233-square-foot industrial building that its family business, Pindler & Pindler Inc., had been occupying on a lease with an option to purchase for the past two-and a-half years. The property, at 5156 Commerce Ave., was acquired for just over $4 million, according to Mike Tingus, president of Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura Inc., who represented seller York Moorpark Industrial LLC along with Lee associate Scott Linklater.

Tingus points out that lease-to-own arrangements "have become a lot more popular as the leasing market has slowed." He adds that landlords recognize that "they have to be more creative to gain a competitive edge" in today's market.

Sellers have not been anxious to put their properties on the market as prices have fallen, Tingus explains. Lease-to-own options can help owners to stabilize pricing while offering an attractive incentive to buyers, he points out.

The property, built in 1990, was at one time occupied by Rolls Royce as a design center. Pindler & Pindler, a designer and marketer of fabrics for the home furnishings industry, leased it for a five-year term with an option to purchase the building within the first two-and a-half years. Among the building's features are dock-high and ground level loading with 20-foot clearance, and three-per-1,000 parking, compared to two-per-thousand for most industrial buildings.

The buyer was represented by George Eales, first vice president of DAUM.