IRVINE, CA—As GlobeSt.com reported recently, Shopoff Realty Investments has hired seasoned real estate professional Joseph Reed as VP of land acquisition. In his 27-year career, Reed has led the origination of nearly 200 transactions with a total aggregate value in excess of $1 billion in equity-and debt structures, and has managed more than $1 billion in institutional-capital and private-equity investments. We spoke with Reed to discuss his plans and goals in his new role and some of the greatest challenges and opportunities he sees in land acquisition.
GlobeSt.com: What are your goals in your new role at Shopoff?
Reed: My goal is in line with the company's, which is to acquire properties within the coastal areas of California. We look for underutilized properties and try to find the highest and best use for those properties where we can add value and create a spread between our purchase and our disposition.
GlobeSt.com: What do you see as the greatest opportunities in land acquisition in California?
Reed: I like to describe it as a recycling of properties. We're getting to the point, on the coastal regions especially, where there's not a lot of land left. We need to look at underutilized properties so that we can recycle them and transform them into a greater use and create greater value. We look for the areas where we want to buy land and properties, and we're seeing sites that are in old, tired industrial areas. There could be one building on it and the rest of the acreage is all parking lot.
GlobeSt.com: What do you view as the greatest challenges in land acquisition here?
Reed: The greatest challenges are finding buildable land and getting the entitlements in place. Getting them entitled is very challenging. To change the uses and go through the general plan amendments is a very time-consuming and costly proposition. We're having to work more closely with local government and councils to get the properties through the entitlement process so we can create value for the benefit of the local communities.
GlobeSt.com: What should developers know about land acquisition as we move into 2015?
Reed: The builders that we market to are still in need of entitled land. The supply is very limited in the coastal regions, and there is still a great demand for entitled land. It's challenging, but there are also great opportunities in figuring out the way to get the entitlement so you can market the properties to the builders.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
