White Water Auto Care Center Seeking $92.5 Million Sale Leaseback of 15 Car Washes in CA

CSP Daily News - January 23, 2008

A dozen full-service car-wash and convenience-store sites in Southern California hit the sale market at an asking price of $92.5 million, as reported in a CSP Daily News Flash yesterday, as White Water Auto Care Center prepares to access some of the capital tied up in its real estate.

The 12 sites—nine in Bakersfield, two in Ventura and one in San Fernando—include full-service car washes, convenience stores and gas pumps at all the sites, and quick-lube services at seven of the sites and quick-service restaurants at two sites.

The centers range from 4,650 to 16,800 square feet. The gasoline stations sell national brands such as Union 76 and Chevron, with a number of other national brands, such as Circle K and Jiffy Lube Quick Lube, as part of the operations.

"The company is indeed selling its real estate in a sale-leaseback transaction," Greg Landry, managing director of Trefethen & Co., Scottsdale, Ariz., who serves as the investment banker for Whitewater Auto Care Center, told CSP Daily News. "But the operating company will remain in the hands of John Aminpour, who has long been the owner and operator and will continue to be the owner and operator of these locations."

The properties are all on 25-year triple-net leases and in locations that historically have attracted high investor demand and aggressive pricing, Glen Kunofsky, senior associate at New York-based Marcus & Millichap, told GlobeSt.com.

Kunofsky and Lior Regenstreif, senior vice president in Marcus & Millichap’s Encino office, are representing the seller.

Regenstreif said the 25-year triple-net leases are all new, having commenced in September. He said investors are likely to be drawn to the “very strong backing offered by both a corporate and personal guarantee from the tenant with a net worth well over $100 million.”

The seller is offering the properties to be acquired either individually or as a customized portfolio of three or more centers. Prices for individual stores range from $4.2 million for a 4,650-square-foot store on less than half an acre to $13.7 million for an 8,104-square-foot store on 1.26 acres (2007 net operating income: $943,032). Sphere: Related Content