SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF., AND DALLAS — Dallas-based Hillwood Investment Properties has acquired two industrial properties in California and one in Texas totaling approximately 1.6 million square feet of space. In San Bernardino, Hillwood purchased Northgate Building 10 and Building 11, two newly constructed, Class A facilities that combined total more than 1 million square feet of space. The seller in that transaction was BlackRock. Immediate plans for the buildings call for their inclusion within AllianceCalifornia, the former Norton Air Force Base that Hillwood redeveloped into a more than 8.6 million-square-foot business park.
In Dallas, Hillwood purchased Frankford Trade Center out of bankruptcy. The 659,340-square-foot, Class A property is located at the interchange of Interstate 35 and the George Bush Turnpike. Constructed in 2000, it is currently being renovated, with completion expected in the next 30 days.
All three properties, which were vacant at the time of the purchase, feature tax incentives for potential tenants. Frankford Trade Center is located within a Foreign Trade Zone and benefits from a Triple Freeport Tax Exemption. The two Northgate buildings are part of the San Bernardino Valley Enterprise Zone. Hillwood has selected the Frank Geraci team at CB Richard Ellis' Ontario, Calif., office to handle leasing for the California properties. The leasing team for the Texas property has not been selected as of press time.
“Our strategy is to take advantage of some pricing in the market that allows us to lease these buildings out and get a decent return in anticipation of an eventual recovery of the market, where we could sell these assets once they are leased,” says John Magness, senior vice president of Hillwood. He adds that the combination of the sellers' desire to dispose of the properties quickly and Hillwood's ability to close quickly as an all-cash buyer helped the transaction close quickly.
— Coleman Wood