Pay Dirt in Oxnard

When Olympic Sun LLC, a farm investment firm, acquired nearly 110 acres of Oxnard strawberry land in late August from owner Del Norte Land Co., it was a big deal in terms of acreage. The total purchase price of the Oxnard agricultural land was $7.3 million for the parcel, located at the southeast corner of Rice Avenue at Wooley Road. According to Daum Commercial Real Estate Services Associate Vice President Mark Kotake out of the firm’s Camarillo office, who negotiated the deal, the Oxnard Plain transaction was the largest single agricultural land sale in Southwest Ventura County in 2018 thus far. ‘Excellent soil’ The transaction came into play after the four parties of farmers comprising Del Norte Land decided to split and move in different directions, per Kotake, who represented the agricultural amalgam. “This parcel is located at the heart of the Oxnard Plain and features excellent soil, mild weather, flat topography and plentiful water sources,” explained Kotake. “We were able to strategically identify and secure this significant land site for our client in an off-market transaction.” According to a Daum press release, the firm negotiated strategically with both buyer and seller Del Norte, which operated a strawberry farm on the site, to facilitate a close within two months. Kotake told the Business Journal that while he was more involved on the buyer’s side as representation, he also found the farm’s owners. “I knew the sellers personally,” he said. Olympic Sun LLC, a financial investment REIT of veteran farmland manager UBS AgriVest, which oversees nearly 10,000 acres in California and Oregon, and Washington State Investment Board, decided to purchase the expansive property as a business investment. “They have a portfolio of ag properties and this is one of many properties in their portfolio and they continue to manage it,” Kotake said. In this arena, Olympic Sun had a specific intention in mind. “Their main goal is to find property with a tenant in place,” Kotake said. Good timing While Ventura County’s agricultural industry has fluctuated in recent years, land remains an increasingly strong investment, Kotake explained. “The timing was good, and the buyer came in and the returns on the investment made sense for them,” he said. Kotake knows this sector of the produce industry firsthand. “I come from an agricultural family,” he added. In fact, over three generations of farming his family’s Kotake Farms used to include ranches along Pleasant Valley and Lewis Road in Camarillo and on Rice Road in Oxnard. Kotake said he got out of farming and into commercial real estate in 2003. He now specializes in agricultural and industrial properties. Working with both parties on this deal felt comfortable for Kotake. “They like to do their due diligence up front until they wanted to open escrow,” he explained of Olympic Sun. That vetting process, which entailed inspectors thoroughly checking every component, including leases, water quality and soil conditions, and environmental factors revolving around some oil rigs on the property, took six months. “Once we opened escrow, it was pretty smooth,” Kotake said. This major purchase arrives at a time when Oxnard’s strawberry business has endured its share of hardships, including labor problems and drought. “It’s a challenging past four or five years mainly because Mexico markets have been growing substantially,” Kotake said. The expanding Mexican competition is independent of any recent tariffs enacted by the Trump administration, Kotake added. Nevertheless, the appetite for such property was there, and Kotake oversaw the negotiations to a satisfying resolution for all involved, including the Daum broker himself. “It’s gratifying to get the deal closed,” Kotake said. “Both parties were happy on the results.” Ultimately, Kotake said, what made Del Norte’s farmland so desirable were the hallmarks of the region. “You can’t beat the location,” he said. “The weather and soil quality are really superior to other parts of the county and there are plenty of other water sources there.” Camarillo multifamily The Oxnard farmland deal is, in fact, one of two recent deals Daum has completed. Daum additionally brokered the $3.6 million sale of a 2.52-acre parcel at 2800 Barry St., formerly home to a lumberyard since the early 1950s, to the city of Camarillo for multifamily development. Daum Commercial Vice President Shaun Bieniek and Associate Michael Wurtzel, both out of the Camarillo office, completed the September sale on behalf of seller Building Materials and Construction Solutions, an Atlanta-based construction supply and services company. “While we received several offers from self-storage developers due to the site’s M1 zoning,” Bieniek said in a Daum statement, “multifamily developers were also confident that the land could be rezoned for residential development, as other parcels in the vicinity were for recent projects. With the knowledge of multifamily and self-storage being two of the most in-demand properties on the market, Daum advised BMC to price the land in-line with the comparable sales, to allow the buyers to bid up and ultimately define the land’s true value.” Wurtzel said the city had been targeting this site as an ideal transit-oriented development location to meet its affordable housing goals. Daum Commercial negotiated a temporary leaseback of the site until the Building Materials and Construction Solutions was able to relocate to its new location in Thousand Oaks at 2222 Hillcrest Drive, an acquisition which Daum also oversaw for the company. The brokerage also sealed the deal on Building Materials and Construction’s newest location at 3111 E. Main St. in Ventura, set to open later this year.