The Muller Company Completes $13.5 Million Refinance and Signs 84,864 SF of Leases and Renewals

The Muller Company Completes $13.5 Million Refinance of San Diego Office Building and Signs 84,864 SF of Leases and Renewals Valued at $16.9 Million

LAGUNA HILLS, CALIF. – The Muller Company, a full service real estate company specializing in management, investment and development of commercial real estate in the western United States, announced today that the firm has just completed a $13.5 million refinance of Pinnacle Executive Centre, a 110,110-square-foot Class A office building located in San Diego County, and signed 11 leases and renewals totaling 84,864 square feet and valued at approximately $16.9 million. Tom Mattinson of Quadrant Real Estate Advisors of Alpharetta, Georgia handled the refinance.

Located at 10920 Via Frontera in San Diego, Calif., Pinnacle Executive Centre was purchased by The Muller Company, with their financial partner, in May 2007, and is a five-story, Class A suburban office building built of steel and concrete with a stone and glass exterior.

The Muller Company’s new leases and lease renewals bring Pinnacle Executive Centre's current occupancy level percent to 76 percent. The two most significant leases that were recently signed were with On Ramp Wireless and The State of California. On Ramp Wireless, an existing 12,100-square-foot tenant, signed a lease for an additional 7,000 square feet and added six months to their current lease term for a total lease value of $2.2 million. The State of California, Department of General Services signed a nine-year lease for 23,382 square feet valued at nearly $8.4 million.

Pinnacle Executive Centre’s Property Manager Kim Sabre said, “The Muller Company and our leasing team from Colliers International created a very catchy and effective leasing campaign called “AS SIMPLE AS 1-2-3,” which offers a creative rent schedule of $1.00/SF in year 1, $2/SF in year 2 and $3/SF in year 3. This rent schedule also includes a broker bonus of $1.23/SF. We certainly attribute our success in bringing the building to 76 percent leased in such a short period of time to a dedicated team that includes The Muller Company as an owner and our creative leasing team, which includes Gary Williams from Colliers International and Jay Alexander from Jones Lang LaSalle (formerly with Colliers International).

"We all know the challenges of today’s economy, so our focus has been to not focus on the challenges, but instead find creative ways to get around them and get the attention of prospective tenants. The Muller Company understands the challenges that all business owners are faced with today and we continue to put every effort into finding ways to make deals that meet each party’s objectives,” Sabre added.

About The Muller Company
The Muller Company has over 30 years of experience in developing, acquiring and managing a diverse portfolio of over 20 million square feet of office, industrial and retail real estate throughout the western United States, with nearly 11 million square feet currently under management in the California and Phoenix markets. Over the years, The Muller Company has partnered with institutional owners such as GE Capital Real Estate, Capmark, Rockwood Capital, BlackRock, ING Realty and Metlife. Empowered by an entrepreneurial spirit and guided by an owner’s perspective, The Muller Company excels at mining the long-term value from every asset that it manages by adding value, either through leasing, capital improvements, refinancing, operational audits and repositioning. For more information, contact the Director of Business Development, Lori Ann Haigh at 949.460.5380 or visit www.themullercompany.com.

Investec Announces Acquisition of $21 Million Shopping Center The Plaza at Sunbow in San Diego
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Investec Continues to Seek Grocery Anchored Centers in California

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. – Investec, specializing in the acquisition, development, management and leasing of retail properties in California, is pleased to announce its newest acquisition, The Plaza at Sunbow in San Diego, California. The 100,000-square-foot shopping center, which was purchased for approximately $21 million, is anchored by Ralphs and CVS, along with a host of national retailers including Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC and T-Mobile. The transaction was sourced by Investec as an off-market acquisition opportunity from a private investor.

The Plaza at Sunbow was developed in 2002 by Kitchell Development in the suburbs of San Diego and has been the dominant neighborhood shopping center in its trade area. The center, which is 100 percent occupied, is situated on 11 acres at the northeast corner of Medical Center Drive and Palomar Street.

"We are always pleased when we can acquire quality assets like Sunbow, which provide us a quality center with a high performing grocer and pharmacy in strong in-fill markets," said Grant Harris, Investec's Director of Acquisitions. "Sunbow has performed very well since it was built, and we are confident it will continue to thrive with the quality and mix of tenants currently in place."

Harris said the addition of Sunbow brings Investec's retail portfolio to nearly 2,000,000 square feet of retail space in California, valued at over $620 million. Investec represented itself in the transaction, while the seller was advised by Mark Lucescu of Lucescu Realty.

According to Kenneth Slaught, President of Investec, "Contrary to the general gloom about retail real estate, not all retail real estate is the same. Much of the adverse retail press has been focused on discretionary retail or the woes affecting large niche chains. In contrast, all of our existing grocery anchor tenants have shown sales increases averaging 2.9 percent over the past 12 months. With the grocery and drug stores typically accounting for approximately 60 percent of the leasable area of our centers, we are confident that our gross sales increases will continue at all of our shopping centers."

Traffic and sales are increasing at Investec's necessity-based shopping centers as consumers return to basics by eating at home more often and by searching Investec’s discount retailers for bargains. "Knowing this type of real estate in California, particularly Coastal California, is performing well during this severe downturn has us excited about the future," Slaught stated. "We plan to continue buying the same type of properties in Coastal California, but during the next few years, we are going to have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to buy this exclusive asset class at below replacement cost."

In October 2009, Investec completed the development of Gene Autry Plaza, a new $17.5 million 60,000-square-foot shopping center in Palm Springs, Calif. and celebrated the grand opening of the first ground-up Smart & Final Extra! store in California. The center also includes Staples and 11,500 square feet of shop space.

For more information about Investec's acquisition criteria, please contact Grant Harris at 805-962-8989 x343 or grant@investecre.com.

ABOUT INVESTEC
Since its inception in 1983, Investec has handled more than one billion dollars in real estate transactions. Having thrived in one of the nation's most competitive real estate markets for more than 25 years, Investec remains ideally positioned for continued growth in this dynamic and challenging industry during turbulent economic times. Investec's current portfolio includes more than 2.5 million square feet of commercial properties under management in California including shopping centers, office buildings and self-storage facilities. Investec's acquisition and development strategy is primarily focused on necessity-based, recession-resistant market/drug anchored neighborhood shopping centers. For more information, call 805.962.8989 or visit www.investecre.com.