McCormick Ranch Rounds Up $9M

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-A California-based REIT has collected $9.3 million for the 74,000-sf, two-building McCormick Ranch Center. The industrial holding, with deals in the pipeline, will soon be 87% leased.

Equastone, formerly Equus Realty Advisors LLC, of La Jolla, sold the property at 9318-9322 N. 95th Way to Schomac Group Inc. of Phoenix. The asset was 83% occupied at the time of sale, with a pending 3,000-sf lease expected to bring occupancy to 87%.

Equastone acquired the 1980s-era complex in 2001 for $6.35 million in a plan to upgrade it, boost occupancy and sell. The hold, however, turned out to be somewhat longer term than anticipated. “The normal time to hold onto this property is two to four years,” David Bourne, Equastone’s chairman, tells GlobeSt.com. But due to the sudden downturn of the market, the hold time was somewhat longer.

Bourne estimates Equastone spent about $8 per sf on capital improvements and another $15 per sf for tenant improvements throughout the repositioning. He says the improved market was the impetus for Equastone to decide to sell the property. The Simonson offer was put on the table after a full-market run came up dry on the buy side, he adds.