LOS ANGELES—Nearon Enterprises has purchased a 115,538-square-foot industrial warehouse facility in Ventura County from Hamann Companies. The property's tenant, Benchmark Electronics, had an expiring lease at the time of the sale, however, due to the tight supply, the sales team and the buyer were confident that they would renew—and they were right. After the property sale closed, Benchmark renewed its lease. The sale and lease transaction have a combined value of $19 million.

“The ownership group didn't really want to take the asset to market, so we went to a few select possible investors,” Grant Fulkerson, a principal at Lee & Associates LA North/Ventura office, tells GlobeSt.com. “We had a lot of confidence that the existing tenant, whose lease expired early this year, would want to renew. While on the front end, this didn't look like a leased investment, we were confidant that we were going to get there. That is what we pitched, and ultimately, that is what we delivered.” Fulkerson represented the buyer, seller and tenant in the transaction along with his Lee & Associates colleague, principal Mike Tingus.

Located at 200 Science Drive in Moorpark, the property includes additional land that could be used to build a 30,000-square-foot building. This detail made the property attractive to both the buyer and the tenant, according to Fulkerson, because it gives the tenant the opportunity to grow without having to move out of the facility. The lease has a 10-year term and is valued at $9 million.

In addition to the high cost to move and the developable land at the property, Fulkerson was really confident that the tenant would renew because of the tight market supply. “We are really in a product recession. There is a really limited supply of quality industrial product available, whether it is for sale or for lease, especially of this size,” he says. “In the eastern Ventura market, once you get over 100,000 square feet, that is a big box facility. That was the reason why I thought the existing tenant was going to renew, because there wasn't really existing product elsewhere for them to move. The market is tight, and the vacancies are sub 5%, and closer to 3% when you remove the properties from the market.”

Fulkerson was recently named managing director in the firm's LA North Ventura office, while Mike Tingus was promoted to chairman in the LA North/Ventura office.