SENTRE pays $26.6M for Carlsbad industrial leased to Glanbia

SENTRE has paid $26.6 million for a 104,298-square-foot industrial building in Carlsbad, taking on an asset that Glanbia Nutritionals has leased in full since 2001, and the price — roughly $255 a foot — is what a quarter-century of occupancy now costs.

The property, at 2840 Loker Ave. East in Carlsbad Technology Center, is fully leased to Glanbia, the global nutrition and performance products company that has used the building as an operational and logistics hub since 2001. CBRE's Hunter Rowe, Michael Longo, Barbara Perrier and Matt Carlson represented the sellers, Bixby Capital Management and LaSalle Investment Management, while Scott Peterson and Michael Kolcum secured SENTRE's financing and Roger Carlson, Dennis Visser and Blake Wilson handled leasing advisory.

The acquisition adds to the more than $350 million in industrial investments SENTRE has completed across the Western U.S. in recent years, and the firm is paying for certainty: one tenant in place for a quarter-century, occupying a building CBRE describes as mission-critical. That certainty is scarce, and the market is pricing it accordingly: the property recovery runs on supply constraint, and the construction drop across office, industrial and apartment markets is giving owners of occupied buildings the leverage. Rowe said investor demand "remains robust for mission-critical and advanced manufacturing industrial assets," citing the Carlsbad location, Glanbia's longstanding occupancy and "strong underlying real estate fundamentals."

Rowe's comment could be routine, but the price says otherwise: a 25-year tenancy turns the building into a bond with a warehouse attached, and $255 a foot is what that certainty costs. Having CBRE handle the seller's side and arrange the buyer's financing kept price discovery and execution in one room, suggesting SENTRE's conviction depended on the money arriving with the keys.