12/16/04 4 of 6 buildings in Pomona have already been snapped up By Joe Florkowski, Staff Writer redlandsdailyfacts.com POMONA - Five acres of land will soon house some of the city's first for-sale office buildings in years, said real estate brokers. San Dimas-based WF Construction will build and sell six two-story buildings at the site, located near DeVry University and three major freeways, the 10, 57 and 71. "We haven't had a project like this in 15 years in the San Gabriel Valley," said Rick Sheckter of Grubb and Ellis, which represents WF Construction in the sale of the buildings. "Here's a chance to accommodate office users in the San Gabriel Valley who want to own their own building." Sheckter spoke Wednesday at a groundbreaking for the project, where it was announced that nearly all of the buildings are sold. Four of the six buildings, which total nearly 90,000-square-feet of space, are in escrow and a fifth is expected to go into escrow in a few weeks. WF Construction expects to complete the buildings by summer 2005. Although the surrounding area is filled with office buildings constructed in the 1980s, the site remained undeveloped until now, in part because the former land owner, Focus on the Family, did not put it on the market, Sheckter said. "This was something relatively small and forgotten," Sheckter said. On behalf of WF Construction, Grubb and Ellis approached Focus on the Family, which agreed to sell the property, Sheckter said. It is surprising that the land remained undeveloped for so long, said Eddie Martinez, planning/development manager for WF Construction, which spent more than $1million to purchase the site. "We think there was a need in the area," Martinez said. "It's underserved for professional buildings." Sheckter said he thinks there has not been a big market in the region for office buildings to sell because the demand for leasable space is soft. In Orange County, buying office space like this is more popular, he said. But the early results on this project are good, Sheckter said. "Normally, you don't get four out of six in escrow within two weeks," he said. So far, the companies buying the properties and moving in are real-estate related companies. Just Mortgage Inc. is moving from its City of Industry-based offices to a 6,100-square-foot building, said Sonny Chung, CEO of the company. The company had searched for a building to buy for three years and looked to expand, Chung said. Just Mortgage plans to move 40 employees into the building, which has convenient freeway access, Chung said. "This is kind of a perfect location for us with the right price," Chung said.