$9M Buys Rubbermaid Facility

VISTA, CA-After a decade or so of ownership, the Amir Family Trust has sold its 143,786-sf industrial asset here to the Nelson Family Trust for $8.9 million. The property is entirely occupied by Rubbermaid, which has been renting the building for 10 years and now has approximately two years left on its lease.The new owner plans to reposition the facility, which is currently collecting rents at 20% to 30% below market because of Rubbermaid’s long-term rental contract. “It is one of those situations where because of their long-term lease commitment to the building, the rental market outpaced their increases in the rent,” says Andy Melzer with Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial. Melzer, along with Grubb & Ellis/BRE colleague Steve Rowland, acted on behalf of the seller. The Nelson Family Trust was represented by Kerry Schimpf with East County Properties.Since Rubbermaid has some time left on its contract, the new owner will be able to carefully plan the rehab. “As opposed to it being vacant right from day one, it has income coming in, so he can take his time to plan the repositioning,” Melzer points out. The renovations will entail the creation of multiple tenant spaces, upgrading the landscaping, organizing fenced storage areas outside, repainting the facility, and improving the interior offices. “It was time to reposition the building and take it from a single-tenant building down to a multiple tenant building, thereby also affording higher rents,” Melzer tells GlobeSt.com. He says the buyer has a construction background and “wanted a project that he could truly reposition to a higher and better use.”The property is located at 929-951 Poinsettia Ave. in South Vista. This submarket includes about 12 million sf of industrial space, with development here generally starting in the late 80s, Melzer says. “It encompasses about 1,200 acres total of which approximately 20 acres are all that’s left,” he notes, pointing out that “it has the lowest vacancy rate of any submarket in San Diego County, standing between 7% and 8%.” The Rubbermaid facility, which was listed on the market for approximately 30 days, has sold for full asking price. “At $52 per ft, it was probably about 10% to 20% below recent comps,” Melzer tells GlobeSt.com.The Amir Family Trust decided to sell the property because it was not interested in repositioning and re-tenanting the building. “The seller had great cash flow for 10 years, he got a little bit of appreciation on the property, so he took his equity back out of the property and went after another long-term cash flow type of investment,” Melzer says.