Lee & Associates Transacts 1.47 Acre Land Sale for Orly International

Effort to create a contiguous parcel took three years

 

LOS ANGELES – April 30, 2019 – A 1.27-acre industrial land parcel in the Van Nuys submarket of Los Angeles has traded to a mini-storage operator in a transaction that highlights the challenges of redeveloping in land-constricted, urban areas.

Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura Principal and Managing Director Scott Caswell and Associate Erica Balin represented Orly International, Inc., the seller of the property at 7748 and 7754 Haskell Ave. and 7751, 7749, 7743 and 7737 Aqueduct Ave. in Van Nuys. The buyer, 7710 Haskell, LLC, was represented by Robert Clifford, a principal of Lee & Associates-West LA.

Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Caswell and Balin initially represented Orly when the nail polish manufacturer acquired the property, which sits just north of its existing facility, to expand its operation. The land, just west of the San Diego (405) Freeway at the corner of Haskell Avenue and Stagg Street in the Van Nuys submarket of Los Angeles, extended to the next block, Aqueduct Avenue, but in between there was an alley and a cul-de-sac, as well as a portion owned by an adjacent neighbor, the Apprentice & Journeymen (A&J) Training Trust Fund, that was used to train workers on heavy equipment. These would all be impediments that would limit what could be built on the site.

Orly and the brokerage team realized that the parcel could be better utilized if it were reconfigured into a contiguous rectangle. To do that, however, the city would have to agree to the removal of the alley and the cul-de-sac, and A&J Training Trust Fund would have to agree to an exchange with a portion of Orly’s existing property that would move its training area to a back portion of the lot.

“What seemed like an easy fix took three years,” said Caswell. “We had to work through the city’s process, get approval from the union board and we had to invest in construction that would allow the union to exchange its portion of the property.”

By the time the work was completed, Orly’s plans had changed, and the parcel was listed for sale.

The listing attracted more than 10 buyers in just 30 days.

“Industrial land is extremely scarce in submarkets like Van Nuys, where the vacancy rate for industrial properties is just 1.2 percent, Caswell said, “so it’s critical to get creative and put in the effort, however time-consuming, to help clients maximize the value of their property.”

Clifford added, “the new buyers plan on building a first-class, self-storage facility befitting a prime infill location such as this.”