Property Types
Industrial
Jul 14, 2009
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
In what is being described by industry players as the second-largest industrial user-sale transaction in Southern California this year, Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. has acquired a two-building portfolio totaling 439,000 square feet in the Cooley Ranch Industrial Park in Colton, Calif., a submarket of the Inland Empire. Overton Moore Properties sold the vacant buildings about 18 months after purchasing them.
Sited on 19.3 acres, the assets include a 312,000-square-foot complex and a 127,000-square-foot structure. Overton Moore Properties acquired the buildings in January 2008 as part of OMP Industrial III, a joint venture partnership with the New York State Teachers Retirement System. Grocery-store chain State Bros., which had been the sole occupant, soon vacated the property, at which point OMP kicked off a renovation and repositioning program, leaving the buildings unoccupied until now.
For Ashley Furniture, the deal marks an expansion. The company already has a home spanning 1 million square feet across the street. "They continue to be a growing company and are preparing for the economic turnaround," Aaron Hodgdon, president of real estate services firm The Hodgdon Group, told CPN. Hodgdon and Rick John of Collins Commercial represented the buyer in the transaction, while CB Richard Ellis stood in for the seller. "Ashley Furniture is the largest furniture manufacturer in North America. They're unique in that they are vertically integrated with manufacturing, distribution and retail operations."
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
In what is being described by industry players as the second-largest industrial user-sale transaction in Southern California this year, Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. has acquired a two-building portfolio totaling 439,000 square feet in the Cooley Ranch Industrial Park in Colton, Calif., a submarket of the Inland Empire. Overton Moore Properties sold the vacant buildings about 18 months after purchasing them.
Sited on 19.3 acres, the assets include a 312,000-square-foot complex and a 127,000-square-foot structure. Overton Moore Properties acquired the buildings in January 2008 as part of OMP Industrial III, a joint venture partnership with the New York State Teachers Retirement System. Grocery-store chain State Bros., which had been the sole occupant, soon vacated the property, at which point OMP kicked off a renovation and repositioning program, leaving the buildings unoccupied until now.
For Ashley Furniture, the deal marks an expansion. The company already has a home spanning 1 million square feet across the street. "They continue to be a growing company and are preparing for the economic turnaround," Aaron Hodgdon, president of real estate services firm The Hodgdon Group, told CPN. Hodgdon and Rick John of Collins Commercial represented the buyer in the transaction, while CB Richard Ellis stood in for the seller. "Ashley Furniture is the largest furniture manufacturer in North America. They're unique in that they are vertically integrated with manufacturing, distribution and retail operations."
Hodgdon Group has represented Ashley Furniture Industries on the development, acquisition and leasing of more than 2 million square feet of industrial and manufacturing space over the last decade. The firm is the exclusive representative for the furniture company's retail real estate.
Not only is the transaction significant for Ashley Furniture, it is momentous for the market, as well. "The East End of the Inland Empire has been a struggling marketplace," Hodgdon said. "This deal was a shot in the arm for the local area; it means the creation of new jobs." For all industrial property types, the average vacancy rate is 27.3 percent in Colton and 11.8 percent across the Inland Empire, according to a first quarter report by real estate services firm Colliers International.
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