CIP Trimming Hughes Airport Center Portfolio

LAS VEGAS-CIP Real Estate, the largest property owner within the 420-acre Hughes Airport Center, has sold two assets at the popular park since investing close to $100 million there in the second quarter to increase its market share. The Irvine, CA-based investor currently owns about two million sf of the 3.2-million-sf office and industrial park.

The separate sales included a one-story building and a ready-to-build land parcel capable of holding 102,500 sf of development. CIP owned the assets with Newport Beach, CA-based Buchanan Street Partners, CIP’s partner for all of its assets in Las Vegas.

CIP chairman Chuck McKenna tells GlobeSt.com that the two assets and a third it sold in April were acquired in 2005 and were tagged at that time as short-term value-add investments. “There was nothing wrong with them, they just didn’t quite fit…,” McKenna says.

The building it sold, 955 Grier, totals 46,000 sf. JMK Limited Partnership of Campbell, CA, the owner of the building next door, paid $6.5 million for the asset, which is 66% leased in a park that is otherwise essentially full. The tenants are Atronic Americas LLC, Sound & Secure Inc. and Orchard Street Grill. McKenna says the plan was to lease up the vacancy and sell the building, but JMK snapped it up first.

The ready-to-build site was acquired by Centra Realty Corp. The Irvine, CA-based company paid $5.5 million for the 5.75-acre development parcel at 740 Pilot Rd. The buyer plans to develop a mixed-use project that includes office and industrial (R&D) buildings for lease and for sale. “We know Centra very well and the structure under which we owned it is not development structure,” McKenna says.

The buildings were not among the seven buildings it acquired in May 2007 as part of a $115-million, 600,000-sf acquisition that also included two buildings at Hughes Cheyenne Center in North Las Vegas. The seller was a joint venture of GoldenTree InSite Partners and Stoltz Real Estate Partners, which is planning to develop two new class A office buildings at Hughes Airport Center in a project called Sunset Pilot Plaza.

Just prior to its big acquisition at the park, it sold for $10 million 821 Grier Dr., a 44,631-sf, two-story building that is fully leased to JT3, a specialized defense firm jointly owned by Raytheon and EG&G. The buyer was a joint venture of 821 Grier LLC and Rains 821 Grier Investment LLC, entities controlled by Joel Laub and Robert O. Rains Jr., respectively, according to documents filed with Clark County. McKenna says the lease was close to expiration when CIP acquired it. They put it back on the market after extending the lease.