EverWest Acquires San Lorenzo Warehouses for $35 Million

Denver-based real estate investment firm EverWest has acquired a warehouse complex in San Lorenzo for $35 million, or $285 per square foot, according to public records.

The building is located a 10-minute drive from the Oakland Airport and 15 minutes from the Port of Oakland; both have become magnets for industrial investment and development.

“The East Bay is a high barrier-to-entry market with limited supply pressure due to land constraints and municipal restrictions on new construction,” EverWest says on its website.

The property is located at 2480-2488 Baumann Avenue and was previously occupied by ESW LLC. Some of the current tenants include Country Malt Group and Custom Freight Systems. The building has 121,690 square feet, with one building reaching 40,196 square feet and the other 81,490 square feet. Both buildings were built in 1968 and sit on nearly 6.6 acres of land, according to EverWest’s website.

The East Bay industrial market has cooled off compared to the red-hot activity experienced during the first half of the year, according to a third-quarter report by brokerage CBRE. The vacancy rate increased slightly to 2.8 percent from 2.5 percent the previous quarter, due to an increase of larger properties coming on the market. The construction pipeline remained unchanged from last quarter, with 2.3 million square feet of space in development.

Despite the rise in vacancy, demand for industrial property is still strong with the East Bay maintaining an asking rate of $1.34 per square foot from last quarter.

“Looking forward, the demand pipeline continues to accumulate logistical and industrial tenants in the Oakland/East Bay market,” the report said.

EverWest’s purchase, compared to those in the summer, features a slightly lower price per square foot. In June, Terreno Realty acquired a 104,000-square-foot industrial property for $35 million, or $333 per square foot, near the Oakland airport. Another deal saw Ark Row Industrial Partners pay $43 million, or $317 per square foot, in July for a 135,000-square-foot building in San Leandro.

EverWest is indirectly majority owned by Power Corporation of Canada, a holding company.