Firm buys industrial buildings near McCarran airport in Las Vegas

In its biggest purchase ever, a Southern California firm bought a cluster of industrial buildings near McCarran International Airport.

An industrial building at 420 Pilot Road photographed on Thursday, Feb.1, 2018, in Las Vegas. BKM Capital Partners bought a dozen industrial buildings near McCarran International Airport for $92 million.

BKM Capital Partners acquired 13 buildings and a 4-acre parking lot, all on Pilot Road just south of the airport, for $92 million, property records show.

The sale, by partners CIP Real Estate and Oaktree Capital Management, closed Monday.

The buildings span about 670,900 square feet combined and are 86 percent leased, according to Barbara Rea, BKM’s director of investor relations and operations.

BKM was founded in 2013, and Rea said the purchase, as measured by both size and price, is its biggest ever.

Warehouse construction is booming in Southern Nevada, fueled by speculative investors drawing up plans before they land any tenants, and vacancy rates have dropped, although investment sales tapered off last year amid higher prices.

Brokerage firm Colliers International counted 63 industrial-property sales in Southern Nevada last year, down from 70 in 2016. The average sales price per square foot in 2017 was $97.10, up from $93.48.

BKM, based in Newport Beach, California, paid $132.75 per square foot for the buildings. That figure does not include the parking lot’s $2.9 million sales price.

BKM only buys multi-tenant industrial properties, and its new buildings in Las Vegas are in a “highly sought after industrial pocket” near McCarran, the 215 Beltway, Interstate 15 and the Strip, the company says on its website.

Rea said BKM has “a pretty intensive improvement plan” in store, including upgrades to roofs, parking lots and heating and air-conditioning systems, as well as new paint and landscaping.

She expects the company to spend between $900,000 and $1 million on structural improvements and $350,000 on cosmetic upgrades.

CIP, based in Irvine, California, acquired the buildings as part of a much larger purchase in 2005 and 2006, co-founder Eric Smyth said.

Oaktree invested several years later and sold the properties with Smyth’s firm to BKM, he said. An attempt to get comments from Los Angeles-based Oaktree was not immediately successful Thursday.

Smyth said CIP still owns property in Las Vegas and is looking to be an aggressive buyer here. He said one purchase is under contract, but he couldn’t share details on it.

Portfolio purchase

The 13 industrial buildings purchased by BKM Capital Partners are located at 420, 500, 600, 680, 711, 731, 750, 751, 770, 815, 823, 831 and 839 Pilot Road.

The 4-acre parking lot it acquired is at the southeast corner of Pilot and Bermuda roads.