OC Developer Inks Contract for $19-Mil Deal

ORANGE COUNTY, CA-A needed majority of outstanding common and preferred shareholders gave the go-ahead Thursday to Pacific Gulf Properties (PAG) to sell off the REIT’s industrial portfolio to CalWest Industrial Properties.

At a special shareholders meeting held, at PAG’s headquarters in Newport Beach, shareholders voted to approve the deal to sell 72 properties encompassing 14.9 million sf of industrial space. The sale is expected to close later this month for an aggregate price of $856.9 million. However, excluded from the deal is one property that had been previously deleted from the transaction and four other properties that may require additional remediation before they are either sold or deleted.

“We are extremely pleased that our shareholders have supported the determination by our management and board of directors that these transactions present the best opportunity in today’s market environment to maximize value for our investors,” said chairman/CEO Glenn Carpenter.

PAG has already sold four of its multifamily apartment properties for $60.5 million and has sales pending on another seven of eight apartment properties totaling $62 million. Those pending sales are subject to several conditions, and there is no guarantee that they will close. PAG’s multifamily portfolio includes eight rental communities with 1,500 units designed for active seniors age 55 and up.

Thursday’s vote also gave a mandate to PAG’s management to sell the remainder of the REIT’s assets and to liquidate and dissolve the company. The company has not entered into any agreements to sell off the remaining assets at this time.

The sale of PAG’s industrial portfolio to CalWest, and the sale of the multifamily apartment properties is scheduled to close in mid-December. The company plans to make a special distribution of proceeds to shareholders at that time.

Traded on the New York Stock Exchange, PAG’s stock price was unchanged Thursday at 26 5/8. The company was incorporated in August 1993 in the State of Maryland, and completed its initial public offering in Feb. 1994. Prior to that time the REIT was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santa Anita Realty Enterprises. PAG is an equity REIT which bought properties throughout Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington in deals valued up to $100 million.