Stan Johnson Continues SoCal Expansion With New Office

Stan Johnson Co. continues its Southern California expansion with the launch of its second Los Angeles office. Net lease expert Pat Weibel has joined the firm as director to help open the new location. He brings 15 years of experience to the firm, and has represented clients in $5 billion worth of real estate transactions.

“Our clients are driving our expansion, and it’s important that we continue to grow in those markets that are in close proximity to our clients,” Weibel tells GlobeSt.com. “Our goal is to selectively hire talented advisors in strategic markets, which will help facilitate communication and long-term relationships, and allow us to provide our clients with the services they need, even beyond the net lease market.”

The net lease market is also on fire in Southern California, helping to drive expansion for the firm. “The combined markets of Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego saw their strongest year ever, with more than $7.4 billion in single-tenant net lease investment sales volume reported in 2019,” says Weibel. “Furthermore, third quarter 2019 was the most active quarter on record with more than $2.5 billion reported across these three metros.”

What asset classes have been most popular for net lease assets?

Overall, investor interest has really spanned the spectrum of the three main product types, with retail and industrial being most prominent. On the private capital side, we are seeing retail – particularly the QSR and grocery categories – generate a great deal of activity, primarily driven by a robust 1031 exchange market. On the institutional side, industrial has been the darling of the investment community, and we continue to see downward pressure on cap rates for high quality assets in superb locations. With the continued success of e-commerce, we expect this trend to continue.

This year, Weibel expects the momentum to continue with strong net lease activity in Southern California. “Southern California specifically, and the greater net lease market in general, is poised for another great year,” he says. “The fundamentals in Southern California are tremendous and the demand is greater than I have seen in a long time. However, we are experiencing an asset shortage, as a lot of the trophy and other high-quality net lease assets have already traded in this cycle and have been put away into investors’ long-term portfolios. This scenario has led to fierce competition for high-quality assets as investors continue to seek well located, strong credit net lease opportunities in the region.”

Fueled by the strong market, Stan Johnson will also continue to strategically expand. “Our future growth across the nation will consist of the continued selective hiring of strong advisory talent as we build our market share,” says Weibel. “And the West region continues to be a very important area of focus for us.”