SR Commercial Acquiring Its Seventh Property In The San Diego Market This Year

NEWPORTBEACH, CA, September 06, 2012

SR Commercial, a privately held, full-service commercial real estate investment company, has just completed its sixth acquisition of the 2012 calendar year in the San Diego market, and has the seventh in escrow, according to CJ Stos, a Principal of SR Commercial.

"SR Commercial is the most active buyer I am aware of in the San Diego market today," says Henry Zahner of Colliers International, who, along with Jon Busse, worked with the SR Commercial team on its most recent acquisition in San Marcos, Calif.

"In a market where many buyers remain tentative, the SR Commercial team has demonstrated its ability to recognize and seize opportunities, and to create value in each property they acquire," says Busse.

SR Commercial's recent transactions are part of a larger acquisitions strategy, through which the firm plans to invest in larger industrial properties throughout San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire.

"We have been actively acquiring properties throughout the year," notes Stos, who founded SR Commercial with Adam Robinson. "We have institutional partners in place, which expands our buying power and enables us to seek out larger deals throughout Southern California."

According to Robinson, SR Commercial recently made it to the final round as a potential buyer on a $40 million purchase in Los Angeles, and continues to seek high-quality properties to add to the firm's portfolio.

"Many of the properties we buy are intended as short-term investments," he says. "We acquire them, improve them, and sell them. Other properties are part of our longer-term strategy, through which we plan to acquire, improve and hold a portfolio throughout Southern California."

"We form strong partnerships with the brokers with whom we work," explains Stos. "It is important to us to have brokers with a solid background on each of our projects, so we always retain the brokers we work with to act as leasing agents once the acquisition is complete. In addition, we are open to brokers investing in deals with us, which provides further opportunity for them to benefit from the transactions we complete together."

Some of the firm's larger 2012 acquisitions include:

Acquisition #1:
SR Commercial acquired a 47,037 square-foot industrial property located at 120 Mata Way in San Marcos, Calif. for a total consideration of $3.675 million. This off-market property was built to accommodate four separate tenants, and was vacant at the time of the acquisition. SR Commercial plans to improve the building by updating the landscaping, parking lot and interior walls.

"There is already a great deal of interest in the building," notes Robinson. "We are in negotiations with a national tenant for a quarter of the space, and have multiple potential tenants who are considering occupying the remaining space. We anticipate that we will have one or two leases completed within 60 days of our acquisition."

SR Commercial was represented by Henry Zahner and Jon Busse of Colliers International in the transaction. Zahner and Busse are also the exclusive leasing agents on the building.

The seller, Ontel Products, a national creator of consumer products, was also represented by Henry Zahner and Jon Busse of Colliers International.

Acquisition #2:
SR Commercial also acquired a 39,672 square-foot freestanding industrial building in Vista, Calif. for a total consideration of $2.76 million. Isaac Little and Marko Dragovic of Lee & Associates represented SR Commercial in the acquisition, and were retained to lease the facility.

The property, which was marketed for lease as a corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility, was fully renovated by SR Commercial, including new landscaping, slurry, interior and exterior paint, windows and lights, as well as updates to interior walls.

"We wanted to move quickly to give the building a new, more functional look and secure a long-term tenant," explains Stos. "Our team completed the renovations within 30 days of acquiring the facility, and finalized a long-term, triple-net lease of the full building less than 90 days later."

The seller, Bank of America, was represented by Brent Bohlken of Grubb & Ellis in the transaction. The property is located at 2390 Oak Ridge Way in Vista, Calif.

Acquisition #3:
SR Commercial also acquired a 23,277 square-foot freestanding office/flex building located at 6675 Mesa Ridge Road in Sorrento Mesa, Calif., for a total consideration of $2.12 million.

SR Commercial was represented by Vince Punzi in the transaction. Punzi is not a leasing broker, so SR Commercial retained Bryce Aberg, Brant Aberg, and Brett Ward of Cassidy Turley to market the building for sale or lease.

"We recognized the potential in this facility from the start, and we were successful in completing the purchase at approximately 45 percent below replacement cost," says Robinson. "This allowed us to begin extensive renovations quickly."

SR Commercial renovated the facility's exterior by replacing the roof, non-functioning HVAC units, exterior lights, and concrete; repairing the trash enclosure, windows and parking lot; upgrading the landscaping/trees and the address and monument signage; and by adding a basketball court.
"The trend in office space is collaborative, hip design," notes Robinson. "With this in mind, we created an innovative space by enhancing the existing industrial architecture. The result is a modern workspace which features polished concrete floors, an open floor plan, high ceilings, exposed central heating and air conditioned ducting, and extensive natural light."

The seller, a family trust, was represented by Paul Komadina and Paul Lafrenz of CBRE in the transaction.

SR Commercial (SRC) is a privately held, full-service commercial real estate investment company, which acquires, owns and develops income-producing industrial and retail properties. The firm's two Principals include Adam S. Robinson, CPM, CCIM, SIOR, and CJ Stos, MRED.
SRC is an active commercial real estate operator with a well-established reputation as a value-added investor, focusing on real estate opportunities that are inefficiently priced due to a variety of circumstances. These include vacancies, rollover risk, sub-optimal management, inefficient current use, deferred maintenance, long-term undervalued leases or other unfavorable property and market conditions.

With its corporate office in San Diego and the Principals' close ties to Orange County and Los Angeles County, SRC has positioned itself to become one of the leading real estate investment companies in its respective markets.