Cold Stone Creamery's HQ Changes Hands Again

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-The 66,989-sf Cold Stone Creamery headquarters has ended up in Buchanan Street Partners’ portfolio. The Newport Beach, CA buyer has paid $16.17 million for the asset, which has been sold for the second time in less than three years.

The seller is a partnership headed by local investor Neil Ginsberg, which paid $13.2 million in July 2005 for the 9311 E. Via de Ventura building. Ken Elmer, principal with EBS & Associates in Scottsdale, says the seller had planned from the onset to hold Calendar Stick B for only three to four years.

Elmer tells GlobeSt.com that the asset sold quickly, especially in a market slowed by the credit fallout. “This never really went out to the market,” he says. “We sent this out to some investment groups on a Friday and by Monday, we had two verbal bids and one written. The written one got it.” He says the entire deal took only a couple weeks to wrap up.

“These types of deals aren’t common, but Buchanan Partners has its own equity pool so obtaining financing wasn’t a problem,” Elmer says. Meanwhile, Buchanan has ended up with a core asset, a long-term tenant and consistent cash flow. Ron Schooler and Fred Buck, also principals with EBS, worked with Elmer on behalf of the seller.

Elmer says Cold Stone Creamery has just less than 10 years remaining on its build-to-suit lease, which was signed in 2005. The transaction closed within weeks of the sale of the 64,835-sf Calendar Stick A at 9305 E. Via de Ventura in Opus West Corp.’s 24-acre Calendar Stick Business Park.