Insights

Big Yard, Rail Spur Help $7.75 Million Sale of Woodland Industrial Property

By Ben van der Meer  – Staff Writer, Sacramento Business Journal
Aug 15, 2019, 2:58pm PDT Updated Aug 15, 2019, 7:11pm EDT

A sought-after feature made a Woodland industrial property desirable. And for the buyer, another rarely found feature made it even better.

Both a sizable yard and access to a rail spur characterize 1455 E. Kentucky Ave., which Redding-based Gerlinger Steel & Supply Co. bought in early July for $7.75 million.

Jeff Post, a senior vice president with TRI Commercial/Corfac International who worked on the deal, said Gerlinger already owned an adjoining property in Woodland. The property at 1455 E. Kentucky Ave. has eight buildings and about 77,000 square feet of space.

“Us brokers call that low hanging fruit,” said Post, who represented the seller, Nampa, Idaho-based Gayle Manufacturing Co. Gerlinger will lease the property to ConXtech, a construction technology company relocating to Woodland from a site in Hayward, where a comparable property can be three times as expensive on a square-foot basis. “Of the 18 acres, half is yard space, and it has rail. That’s very beneficial to both.”

Tim Gerlinger, Gerlinger’s vice president, said the company wasn’t really looking for a local property, until 1455 E. Kentucky became available.

“It’s directly south of our property, so it was a good opportunity to expand,” he said. Though ConXtech will be the primary tenant, the rail spur access will make it easier to get materials from the Midwest for Gerlinger’s operation, he said.

A representative for Gayle Manufacturing did not return a message seeking comment. Post said Gayle’s directors decided late last year to consolidate operations in Idaho and close the Woodland site, though the company still has a small office here.

Industrial users, particularly construction companies, are on the hunt for yard space because they can use it to store equipment, vehicles and materials, Post said. As homebuilding and other construction sectors have grown in recent years, the availability of properties with sizable yards is 3%, he said. In the Woodland/Davis area, overall vacancy for industrial properties is 4.5%, according to TRI Commercial’s second-quarter figures (download the full TRI Sacramento Q2 Industrial report here).

“The fact that it has a very hard-to-find rail spur and a surplus yard, that’s next to impossible to find,” Post said.

Zac Sweet of Buzz Oates worked on behalf of the buyer in the deal.

View original Sac Business Journal article here.