Industrial Properties Attract Higher Demand

THOUSAND OAKS, CA—After sitting vacant for two years on the market, an industrial flex asset in Thousand Oaks finally trades hands. The 90,000-square-foot property had been marketed by an unnamed brokerage firm as an office and R&D building for two years, until Colliers International took over the listing. Recognizing that demand in the market was much higher for industrial users, the Colliers team worked with the owner, First Industrial, to reposition the property as an industrial asset. After the repositioning, the property traded hands within nine months.

“The office demand in Thousand Oaks hasn’t been nearly as strong as the industrial demand, so we thought on way to reposition the property was to take out a portion of the ceiling tiles that had been installed for the office space and show what the property was really capable of,” Patrick DuRoss, a VP at Colliers International, tells GlobeSt.com. “Even then, we were left with a little bit of a challenge because only 30,000 square feet of the total 90,000 square feet can be used for high-bay warehousing. However, there are a large portion of companies out there that are more warehouse related, and that could use a large portion of the space for assembly or another form of manufacturing. We actually had a good amount of demand for that type of user, and that is what we ended up finding as a buyer.” DuRoss represented the seller in the transaction, along with senior EVP John DeGrinis and associate VP Jeff Abraham.