Retail assets in Southern California continue to be a highly sought after property type for investors. One recent transaction in the Inland Empire was the sale of a Volkswagen auto dealership in San Bernardino. Public records show that the property was acquired by an entity linking to Martin Management Group for $10.6 million, or about $339 per square foot, from an entity affiliated with Car Pros.
Located at 1600 Camino Real, the property consists of a 31,253 square foot auto dealership on 3.31 acres of land. The property was built in 2013 and is situated near the Santa Ana River near a number of other auto dealerships, including Toyota of San Bernardino, Subaru of San Bernardino and Nissan of San Bernardino. The property is also located just off of Interstate 215 and within close proximity of San Bernardino International Airport.
Martin Group Management was founded in Bowling Green, Ky. approximately 37 years ago, according to its website. The company owns auto dealerships across the United States, including several other locations in California, such as Subaru of Ontario and El Monte Nissan.
Car Pros is an automotive group founded in Tacoma in the 1970s, the company’s website shows. The company currently has seven locations throughout Washington and California.
Overall, the retail market in the Inland Empire has remained stable over the last few quarters. According to a third quarter retail market report from Kidder Mathews, vacancy rates in the Inland Empire have continued to go down during the third quarter of the year, while rental rates increased. Per the report, vacancies decreased by more than 13 percent from 6.8 percent to 5.9 percent. Year-over-year, rental rates for retail assets in the Inland Empire increased by nearly six percent from $19.14 per square foot to $20.27 percent. At the same time, Average sales price increased from the third quarter of 2021 to 2022 from $230 per square foot to $279 per square foot.
