The two buildings are a 66,000-sf, 15-year-old warehouse and a 123,000-sf, 25-year-old manufacturing facility that was used to build fork lifts. Quintero says Caterpillar moved out of the facility several years ago and leased it to an aftermarket manufacturer it eventually acquired. The space was deemed surplus after the facility's operations were folded into existing facilities elsewhere around the country, he says.

"We had it on the market for a year and had a number of companies look at it," says Quintero. "Some 350,000 sf of buildings already have been sold off to other buyers; the 180,000 sf remaining is what is in escrow." The asking price for the property in escrow was $3.4 million, but it is believed to have sold at a discount.

The buyer, who Quintero described as a local real estate investor and developer, is planning divide the space up and incubate small companies that will grow into the facility. "It would only take one or two companies to eventually take the whole thing," says Quintero, who expects to be offering rents in the $0.15 center per sf range.