SAN DIMAS, CA—180 Via Verde LLC has purchased a 50,031-square-foot office building in San Dimas, CA, from New York Life Real Estate Investors. In addition to the purchase of the building, 180 Via Verde signed a 33,000-square-foot lease with Emergency Groups' Office, which will help to decrease the San Dimas market's office vacancy rate by 2.4%.

The buyer purchased the building for $10.2 million. Cushman & Wakefield's John Minervini, Robin Dodson, Erik Larson and Chris Tolles represented the buyer and seller in the transaction, along with Ron Heim and John Bibeaufrom the Inland Empire office who also represented the seller. “The Buyer had a tenant in tow in EGO for the vacant 33,000 square feet, and the building was located exactly where EGO wanted to relocate to from Arcadia,” Erik Larson, a Cushman & Wakefield senior director, tells GlobeSt.com about why the buyer leaped at the investment opportunity. “The San Dimas location was ideal for not only employee commuting, but access to EGO's client base as well.”

The property is located within the 142,000-square-foot Via Verde Corporate Plaza. The building will serve as EGO's headquarters and house 220 employees. 180 Via Verde is performing tenant improvements to the tune of $40 per square foot, before the new tenant takes occupancy. Because the lease will decrease the vacancy rate by more than 2 percentage points, it may become a notable detail in the story of San Dimas' office market, which is already off to a great start.

“Despite higher vacancies, activity was strong in the San Gabriel Valley during the first quarter of 2014,” Larson explains, adding that 418,605 square feet was leased during the quarter, more than double the 206,830 square feet leased in Q4 2013. This was the most leased square footage since Q1 2006. “Despite higher vacancies, absorption was also positive in first quarter with 20,262 square feet of occupancy gains. The occupancy gains were directly attributed to a 100,000-square-foot build-to-suit completion in Pomona for San Gabriel Regency Center,” says Larson. “Second quarter numbers should be positive as well with the EGO occupancy at Via Verde Corporate Plaza.”

Additionally, San Dimas' multifamily sector is also attracting investors. GlobeSt.com reported last quarter that CNS Focused Investments, a joint venture between NNC Apartment Ventures LLC and Shane Shafer, had acquired the 288-unit Waterstone San Dimas multifamily complex for $47 million from a private California-based investment firm.