Faris Lee Investments Completes $9.7 Million Sale of 24,605 SF, Multi-Tenant Property in Baldwin Park
IRVINE, CA – November 16, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Faris Lee Investments, the nation’s largest retail-specialized investment advisory firm, has announced the $9.7 million sale of Baldwin Park Towne Center. Built in 1987, the 24,605-square-foot, multi-tenant retail property located at 14510 Baldwin Park Towne Center includes GameStop, Verizon, AT&T, Adriana’s Insurance and Tortas Sinaloa Restaurant as tenants. The property also benefits from the fact that it is co-occupied by such national tenants as Home Depot, McDonald’s, Denny’s, and a Marriott Courtyard Hotel.
Matthew Mousavi and Nicholas Coo of Faris Lee Investments represented both the seller, Baldwin Park Plaza LLC, and the buyer, GDA Companies. Both the buyer and seller were involved in a 1031 exchange. At approx. $400 PSF, this was the highest price per square foot sale in this region of Los Angeles County for the past three years, per CoStar.
Unique to this transaction was the fact that the property had not had any interest in previous attempts to go to market. However, the marketing strategy employed by Faris Lee drove 10 offers in a limited amount of time, helping to fulfill the 1031 exchange requirements of the buyer and seller.
“The issue on the table today is risk. Everyone’s wants to know how to minimize any risk in the transaction. In this case, we spent considerable time to understand each existing tenant’s unique profile so that we were well prepared to discuss all possible issues with prospective buyers,” noted Mousavi.
For example, while one of the tenants, an insurance broker, was a local entrepreneur, the team soon discovered that the Baldwin Park site was the top-performing of 40 locations they operated.
“Our team investigated the street-level operating characteristics of the property and surrounding neighborhood so that we had answers early on for potential buyers. If you only look at data points, then you miss the true potential of what is an under-served dense neighborhood with a number of top-performing retail sites,” added Coo.
Baldwin Park Towne Center is located on the corner of N. Garvey Ave. and N. Puente Ave. (41,600 vehicles per day at the intersection) and can be easily accessed by the I-10 (215,000 vehicles per day). Due to the high population density of the Los Angeles/Southern California trade area surrounding the center and the limited supply of retail property, retail centers such as Baldwin Park will benefit from ever-increasing tenant demand for space.
Mousavi and Coo both shared that today’s market needs leadership.
“You can’t let the market dictate value. You have to be involved in every aspect of the transaction throughout the entire process, even advising on how to add value, tenant issues, working with appraisers and much more,” Coo said.
About Faris Lee Investments
Faris Lee Investments is a leading national real estate investment advisory firm, comprised of three (3) integrated business platforms; Faris Lee Investment Banking, Faris Lee Capital and Faris Lee Advisors. The company’s high-level retail investment advisors and sophisticated financing experts develop forward-thinking strategies for all retail acquisitions and dispositions and guide clients through complex transactions. Cumulatively, the Faris Lee’s leadership has been involved in more than $20 billion of transactions. Faris Lee’s senior experts are skilled in disposition and acquisition strategies, 1031 exchanges, asset positioning and valuation, marketing, debt and equity structuring, strategic workout and REO solutions and execution. For more information, please visit www.farislee.com.
