LOS ANGELES—Westcore Properties has sold a nine-building industrial portfolio to take advantage of the prime industrial market. In an earlier story, GlobeSt.com reported that Rexford Industrial, an L.A.-based REIT, purchased the 817,166-square-foot portfolio for $88.5 million. The portfolio has assets located in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles counties.

“We keep a keen eye on the dynamics in the market, and once we have executed a business plan, which we had done on these particular assets, we exit at appropriate times,” Hack Adams, Westcore Properties SVP, tells GlobeSt.com. “This group of assets was about 99% leased with the exception of one building, so we saw it as a good time to sell the assets and redeploy to capital into other investment opportunities in the Western US, and I think it will be a good group of long-term assets for Rexford.”

The sale drew significant attention from potential buyers interested in buying either pieces of the portfolio or the portfolio in its entirety. “We initially received 20-22 offers,” says Adams. Rexford purchased all but one of the assets in the portfolio, an industrial property in San Diego that is now under contract with an Orange County-based investor. Westcore Properties' criterion in choosing a buyer wasn't limited to the price tag. Other factors, including certainty to close, were also important to the firm. “We chose a quality firm like Rexford because it follows through once we go under contract with them,” Adams adds. 

Westcore owned the San Diego properties since the early 2000s and purchased the remainder of the portfolio from 2009 to 2011. The San Diego properties were kept for an unusually long timeframe; the company typically holds assets for three to five years. Like with many of its investment properties, Westcore repositioned and rebranded the assets, investing anywhere from $1 to $15 per square foot. Property improvements ranged from adding drought tolerant landscaping to exterior paint to large improvements, like adding dock-high doors.