Adler Realty Buys Thousand Oaks Building, Acreage

Adler Realty Advisors Inc. has acquired the 156,696-square-foot Legacy Oaks Corporate Centre office building and surrounding acreage in Thousand Oaks on behalf of an investment group for more than $24 million from Legacy Partners Commercial.

The five-story Class A office building is on West Hillcrest Drive, just north of the Ventura Freeway and near The Oaks and Janss malls. It was developed in the early 1980s as the headquarters of what was Exxon Corp.’s domestic oil and gas unit.

Legacy Partners purchased the then-vacant property two years ago and performed an extensive renovation, including installation of fiber-optic communications lines. The building is now 97% occupied by such tenants as Toyota Motor Credit, Baja Fresh Cantina, Digital Island and Homestore.com.

The $24.2 million paid by Woodland Hills-based Adler Realty factors to about $155 per square foot, one of the higher prices paid for an office property in the technology-heavy Conejo Valley. Not long ago, an institutional investor advised by Brentwood’s Lowe Enterprises purchased office complexes in Agoura Hills and Westlake Village for about $152 per square foot.

The pricing is a reflection of the relatively strong demand for, and short supply of, high-quality office space in the area, said Adler Realty principal Michael Adler. Adler and his investor clients--”wealthy individuals” he declined to identify--bought the property for less than it would cost to develop today, he added.

The Conejo Valley will see about 765,000 square feet of new office space added to the market over the next year or so, brokerage Colliers Seeley predicts, potentially boosting the current 6.8% vacancy rate.

While tenant demand remains strong even as the economy is showing signs of cooling, rents in the San Fernando and Conejo valleys are flattening as new office developments hit the market, according to Colliers Seeley. After increasing at an annual rate of about 10% over the last couple of years, rents will probably climb about 5% during 2001.

The Adler group, which also offers property appraisal services, is renaming its investment division Adler Realty Investments as of Jan. 1.

Foster City, Calif.-based Legacy Partners is one of the West’s biggest real estate companies. Its commercial division specializes in developing or otherwise improving office and industrial properties, frequently selling them to institutional buyers.

Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Kevin Shannon and Tom Festa represented the seller in the deal.