Westcore Sells Industrial Condos for $22M

HONOLULU—Waipio Investments LLC has purchased 46 units at Waipio Business Center, a 99-unit, class-A industrial-condominium complex here, for $21.9 million from Westcore Properties. The deal is considered one of the largest industrial real estate transactions to occur in Hawaii since 2011.

The property, located at 94-1388 Moaniani St., Waipahu, contains units ranging between 1,500 square feet and 4,800 square feet and features common loading docks, thermal roof insulation and tilt-up concrete construction. The current occupancy rate of the property, which is close to the H-2 freeway and 15 minutes from Honolulu International Airport, is 83.5%.

Linda Gee and Ian Clagstone with Standard Commercial represented Westcore in the transaction, with assistance from John Dooling of MW Commercial. The buyer represented itself.

According to Don Ankeny, president and CEO of Westcore, “We were able to buy class-A industrial condominiums in a very supply-constrained market for less than half of replacement cost. We sold a number of units to users, and we increased occupancy on the rest form 20% to over 80%. Our value-add strategy was accomplished, and it was time to move on.”

Ankeny adds that industrial real estate vacancy rates on Oahu are among the lowest in the nation, “so we felt the market was in the right place for a strong sale.”

Westcore had originally purchased 61 of the 99 units in 2011 and sold 14 units to individual tenants prior to the transaction with Waipio Investments. It was the only asset Westcore owned in Hawaii.

This is the latest transaction in a series of recent activity for Westcore. As GlobeSt.com reported last week, capping a seven-month, $91 million run of commercial real estate transactions in the San Francisco Bay Area, the firm completed a $55-million class-A office-building sale in Concord, CA, and an $8-million warehouse purchase in Union City, CA.