For the past 12 years, Pacific Industrial Partners has been taking its time, slowly assembling a commercial and industrial portfolio of more than 5 million square feet as well as 3,000 apartment units.
The Encino-based investment real estate firm has shied away on most of its deals from bringing in outside partners. And, according to Robert Neal, one of three PIP principals, that’s just the way they intend to continue operating.
“It has given us a certain amount of flexibility to acquire riskier properties that other investors typically wouldn’t be interested in,” he said.
Until recently, PIP has been concentrating its activities in the greater Los Angeles County market. Now, it is looking more closely at the Orange County market. As a result, PIP has opened an office in Newport Beach and is working on several deals in the area, targeting properties in the $3 million-to-$15 million range.
“We’ve done larger deals,” said Neal. “But since we aren’t developers and we use our own equity without any help from outside partners, that’s the range where our comfort level usually falls.”
Joining Neal as principals in the firm are David Hager and Adam Milstein.
The firm prefers to buy older industrial and office properties in need of renovation. “We’ve been fortunate to find acquisition and management deals that have turned into profitable investment opportunities,” said Neal. “We’ve acquired maybe seven or eight properties in Orange County in the past, and it is now becoming even more of a major focus for us.”
PIP has been averaging around 1 million square feet of acquisitions in each of its LA submarkets, according to Neal. “That’s what we’d like to get up to in Orange County,” he said.
