What's My Industrial Property Worth?

I have been cold calling owners of buildings 25,000 square feet and larger, offering owners valuations of their property. Most everyone knows that it's probably worth a lot less than it was a few years ago, but how much less? In the past two weeks I have met with three different property owners. Interestingly, although I have been calling owners of all property types, each one of these is a uniquly different manufacturing property. Two of the properties are very similar with older +/- 65,000 square foot buildings on huge 6 acre yards. Both have excellent redevelopment potential, and these days the land value isn't too much different from the building value. As I have researched these properties I have learned that what they are worth today is not too much different from what they were worth 10 years ago. In fact, their rental value may even be a little less.  One is owner occupied and the other has been leased for 10 years. The third property was specifically built for constructing structural steel. It has a 38,000 square foot 30' clear metal building with oversize 25' x 25' doors and high capacity bridge cranes. This property also has two other 9,900 and 6,700 square foot freestanding buildings that could be leased to other businesses. All three buildings sit on about three acres. I am happy to say that this business is doing so well that they hope to move to a larger facility.

The owner of one property was really just curious about what his property is worth today, and really isn't interested in selling right now. That's cool with me. I was happy to meet with him and talk and learn about his plans for the future. One day, I may be able to help him.

If you want to know what your property is worth. I would be happy to talk with you too.

So Busy

I have been so busy showing buyers and tenants around lately. I have seen so many buildings from 30,000 to 150,000 square feet, I know all of the best properties and the best deals.

Busy, Busy

Has your phone been ringing more lately? I hope so. Mine has. But I like to think that I help make it ring. Right now I am working with two clients that I have known for years, but have never made a deal with in the past. Still, I have maintained contact with them and have always kept an eye out for good deals for them. Now, with so many good opportunities out there I am showing them properties again. One client is in the food processing business and is looking to purchase a small USDA ready building. The other client is a true manufacturing company and I have been looking for the perfect building for them. Right now we are exploring a build to suit at numbers close to what an existing older building would sell for. I am also deep in negotiations with freight forwarding company on a 50,000 square foot lease deal.

Just Sold 8975 Rochester Ave. Rancho Cucamonga

8975 Rochester Rancho Cucamonga was owned by my good friends the Haiman Family. For many years they ran their business Kustom Trailers out of this property. The propetry consists of a 5,500 square foot metal building on 1.8 acres of land. The propetry fronts the 15 freeway, but is well below grade level. In 2009 I assisted the Haiman's with a Lamar sign company electronic billboard lease on the property. The lease actually put into place an easement on the property. Lamar originally wanted to buy the lease outright for a $430,000 lump sum payment but that would have triggered the Haiman's due on sale clause with their SBA loan, so a 50 year lease was arranged with $3,600 a month payments. After marketing the property for over 12 months with no serious offers, Alex Garcia of Marcus & Millichap brought in an offer from a group hoping to open a recycling yard on the property. A deal was struck and after several months of greif getting their approvals from the City they were able to close on December 15th. They paid $995,000 for the real estate and $415,000 for the rights to the sign lease for a total deal price of $1,410,000. I wish Dan and the rest of the Haiman's the best of luck in whatever endeavour they now choose to pursue.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Over the last several weeks I have been working with a Chinese company who is new to the US. Although not critical to all, Feng Shui is very important to most Chinese business people. This always makes for interesting property tours, as sometimes I have taken clients to properties that I thought were great only to have them tell me that the property has bad feng Shui and won't work. So, after showing my clients multiple properties, they found one in Mira Loma that looked good. I presented an offer that asked for 4 months of free rent on a 3 year lease. We received a counter offer that only gave one month free. Also, because my clients had little established business presence in the US and little credit, but significant cash on hand, the landlords asked for 6 months rent as a security deposit. My clients were OK with putting up the security deposit, but really wanted 2 months of free rent, which I was able to get for them. The lease was set to start February 1. With February and March to be rent free. So, as we were drafting up the leases, my clients asked if it may be possible to also get the balance of January free. (about three weeks at the time.) After all, the building had been empty for months. The listing agent told me yes, it was not a problem so the early possession was put into the lease. Well, appareantly the listing agent never really asked his client about the early occupancy, and after my clients signed the lease and delivered their first months rent and substantial security deposit, the listing agent tells me sorry, no early occupancy. Needless to say, I was totally blown away, and my clients were very upset. So upset that they asked for the leases and their checks back. After a few hours of consideration, the property owner decided he would let them have the early occupancy, but it was too late. My clients decided they would wait 4-6 months and possibly buy a building then. Was the property owner being greedy? You decide. He certainly killed the deal and lost out on hundreds of thousands of dollars of income. This building has been empty for many months, and may now sit empty for many more, because he didn't want to give an extra three weeks early occupancy. What do you think?