LOS ANGELES—American Realty Advisors is focused on the L.A. industrial market, which is the largest in the US, according to Gary Steinhardt, director of the investment group at the firm. In an earlier story, GlobeSt.com reported that American Realty Advisors purchased the Shoemaker Distribution Center, a 175,000-square-foot class-A industrial facility in Santa Fe Springs. The property fits into the institutional investment manager's plan to purchase competitive properties in top-tier markets.

"We have a very strong focus on industrial assets throughout the United States in key distribution markets, and 40% of trade in the United States comes through the west coast ports, of which Los Angeles is the largest," Steinhardt tells GlobeSt.com. "We believe that the robust tenant and investor demand for functional in-fill distribution assets will continue, making this investment well positioned for long-term growth. Shoemaker offers many of the attributes desired by tenants in Santa Fe Springs, a market which can efficiently serve the entire Los Angeles and Orange County regions. These attributes include ample dock-high and drive-in loading, excess trailer storage and 24' or greater ceiling heights.  Basically this is a strong income-producing property that is consistent with American Realty Advisors' ongoing investment strategy to identify core assets in well located, supply constrained markets."

The immediate market around the property has a limited industrial supply with a 2% vacancy rate and particularly strong activity in the 10,000-square-foot to 30,000-square-foot range, making this multi-unit property a perfect fit. “Our investment thesis is to make enhancements to the building to ensure it remains at the top of its competitive set,” says Steinhardt. “We have a good understanding of the capital needs of older in-fill industrial assets, which may include roof and skylight replacement, paving repairs, upgrades to the office pods and cosmetic upgrades such as painting and landscaping. Accordingly, we develop asset specific capital plan for all of our acquisitions to ensure that we maintain all of our assets to the highest intuitional standards so we can attract and maintain the best tenants for the long-term and minimize re-tenanting costs.” 

American Realty purchased the property with 100% equity through one of the company's institutional client portfolios. The investment manager has a national industrial portfolio of more than 10 million square feet, a total of $6 billion, under management.