California Buyers Look North for Higher Returns
The single-tenant net-lease asset investor was an all-cash Southern California-based 1031-exchange buyer that owns several At Home locations as well as other commercial real estate in the Spokane trade area.
SPOKANE, WA—California would-be homebuyers have streamed into Oregon and Washington for some time now. Investors are now following suit with increasing volume.
A single-tenant net-lease property occupied by a newly opened At Home recently sold for $10.24 million. The buyer was a private investment group from Beverly Hills, CA.
Located on 7.99 acres at 7619 N. Division St., the newly remodeled 86,502-square-foot building occupied by At Home is a former Costco building, which was remodeled in 2019 to accommodate the new tenant. At Home has new long-term lease.
Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors’ executive vice presidents Bill Asher and Jeff Lefko along with president Ed Hanley represented the seller, Rich Development of San Pedro, CA. The buyer was represented by Mark Thiel of Marcus & Millichap of San Diego.
“Hanley Investment Group procured an all-cash Southern California-based 1031-exchange buyer that owns several At Home locations as well as other commercial real estate in the Spokane trade area,” said Asher.
Spokane, Washington State’s second-largest city, is located in eastern Washington situated 92 miles south of the Canada-US border, 18 miles west of the Washington–Idaho border and 279 miles east of Seattle along Interstate 90. Approximately 218,000 people live in Spokane and 57,493 people in the metropolitan statistical area.
“The At Home property benefits from more than 180,500 people within a five-mile radius of the property, and tremendous exposure, identity and visibility along North Division Street, which has 40,000 cars per day and is the dominant retail corridor in the region,” said Asher. “Nearby anchor tenants include Walmart Supercenter, Target, Lowe’s, Albertsons, Big Lots, Burlington, Grocery Outlet, Harbor Freight, Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Michaels, PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less, Safeway, TJ Maxx, Total Wine & More, Trader Joe’s, WinCo Foods and the NorthTown Mall.”
Hanley Investment Group has arranged the sale of 175 single-tenant and multi-tenant retail assets outside of California in the last 24 months. California investors are leaving the state to purchase newer construction retail assets with new long-term leases, said Asher.
“California buyers continue to seek out-of-state retail assets due to overall returns on similar retail investments in California remaining so low,” Asher tells GlobeSt.com. “The At Home in Spokane provided this particular buyer the opportunity to achieve a return that was 100 to 150 basis points higher compared to if it was located in California.”
At Home is a big box home decor superstore and one of the fastest-growing retailers in America. The National Retail Federation ranked At Home number eight in its ranking of the Fastest Growing Retailers in America in 2019.
At Home offers more than 50,000 unique items across broad product categories including furniture, garden, home textiles and housewares. Since its IPO nearly three years ago, At Home has grown its annual store footprint, net sales and profit by more than 20%. Headquartered in Plano, TX, the company currently operates 212 stores in 39 states. The average store is 110,000 square feet. In 2018, At Home had a record revenue of $1.2 billion.