Industrial deal turns $2 million profit in a year

Richard Lee, partner with Irvine, Calif.-based RLA Advisers, raves about investment opportunities in the Reno-Sparks industrial market but that's a no-brainer considering RLA's initial investment here turned a healthy $2 million profit in just over a year.

When RLA purchased the Mountain View Business Park in Sparks in December of 2006 for $7.55 million it did not expect to be selling the property 14 months later for $9.55 million to Bayco Investment Company,

Lee says. The business park, three buildings totaling 103,920 square feet, sits on roughly 5.3 acres at Glendale Avenue and Packer Way.

"We saw an opportunity to add some value, but we did not go in thinking things were going to turn so quickly but that is kind of the nature of real estate," Lee says. "We executed a business plan, and a motivated buyer came out of the woodwork."

That plan included the addition of tenants Spracklin Construction (4,200 square feet) and Mountain Hardware (5,505 square feet), and renewing the lease of Damon Industries, a long-term tenant who leases more than 40 percent of the park's total space.

"We leased up vacant units and renewed leases in 60 percent of the square footage of the park in the year we owned it and increased operating income pretty significantly," Lee says. "It was a good opportunity to buy for us."

The industrial team at NAI Alliance represented both buyer and seller in the transaction. Lee says he first heard about the property through NAI's Dan Oster, who was marketing the property for Prologis. RLA purchased the business park through a closed-bidding process that took about 60 days. Lee says the small, multi-tenant park seemed like an "orphan" in Prologis' portfolio of giant industrial properties.

Not surprisingly, RLA will continue seeking investment opportunities in the area. "We really like Reno-Sparks a lot," Lee says.