Irvine-based real estate investor CapRock Partners LLC has bought a six-building portfolio of industrial properties in Placentia as part of an investment spree that could approach $75 million over the next year.
CapRock, a privately held investor that focuses on small and midsize industrial buildings, recently completed the purchase of the six properties at Melrose Industrial Park, an 11-building industrial park near the intersection of the Orange (57) and Riverside (91) freeways.
The buildings—located along the Placentia-Anaheim city line, in an area considered to be part of the Anaheim Canyon business district—were about 97% leased at the time of the sale, according to brokerage data. They totaled about 90,000 square feet and were sold by Miles Sterling, an individual investor.
Terms of the recent deal weren’t disclosed. The buildings were valued at about $12.9 million, or $142 per square foot, according to data from Zach Niles, a broker with the Irvine office of Jones Lang LaSalle who provided advisory support for the transaction.
Christie Development Co.’s Steve Christie represented the buyer in the transaction while the seller in represented himself.
“The seller needed a year-end close, and with our market knowledge and financial capabilities we could provide Mr. Sterling with that peace of mind,” said CapRock principal Jon Pharris.
The deal came in a strong market, particularly in North Orange County.
Industrial Market
“Orange County remains one of the tightest and most sought-after industrial markets,” said Jones Lang LaSalle’s Niles. “Improving economic conditions and historically low interest rates are fueling demand from both investors and users alike.”
North OC’s industrial market, which runs about 110 million square feet—roughly the same square footage as OC’s entire office market—ended 2012 with a vacancy rate of about 4.5%, according to brokerage data.
More acquisitions could be forthcoming for CapRock, according to company officials. The investor said it enters 2013 with an industrial portfolio that’s valued at close to $100 million.
All those properties have been bought since 2010, according to the company.
CapRock typically buys higher-end multitenant buildings, business parks, vacant buildings, partially occupied properties and nonperforming notes; deals typically run between $5 million and $25 million per asset.
CapRock said it is “aggressively looking” for acquisitions in its core market of Southern California as well as Silicon Valley, and that it expects to spend close to $75 million in 2013.
Last summer, Tustin-based Bridgeport Investments, a boutique real estate investment banking and advisory company, said it had helped arrange $25 million in equity financing for CapRock from an undisclosed institutional investor.
Other Investments
Other local investments that CapRock has made of late include a purchase in October of the South Coast Metro Business Center, a two-building industrial park in Santa Ana that runs about 75,000 square feet.
CapRock bought the fee-interest in the property through a receivership sale. CoStar records show the buildings trading hands for just under $4 million, or about $52 per square foot.
CapRock said it planned to redesign and reconfigure the interiors of the buildings, remove some office space, and offer individual units for sale or lease as industrial condominiums.
The company also was considering building another small industrial building on land at the Santa Ana site, either for sale or as a build-to-suit project.
