A Pico Rivera bag company has sold one industrial building and bought another in the midsize working-class community.

Carlos and Edgar Garcia, owners of industrial paper bag manufacturer Endpak Packaging Inc., sold their warehouse at 7343 Paramount Blvd. for $3.87 million and purchased a larger industrial building at 9101 Perkins St. for $6.4 million in a 1031 tax-deferred exchange.

The brothers sold the 45,540-square-foot Paramount building to Juan De La Cruz, owner of cardboard box manufacturer CD Container Inc., and bought their new 78,200-square-foot headquarters building from private seller Jacob Khobian.

Carlos Garcia, who served on the Pico Rivera City Council from 1997 to 2007, said that his business needed more space and it was important to him that Endpak remain in the city.

“The new building allows for better flow of materials, product and room for expansion,” he said. “We do plan to expand.”

Endpak’s bags are used to package and store items including charcoal and baking products.

Broker John Repstad, who represented the Garcias and Khobian on the Perkins property transaction, said that the sales are noteworthy because the troubles in the credit markets have significantly slowed industrial transactions in the area. The Perkins sale broke down to $81.80 per square foot for the building and the Paramount sale broke down to $85 per square foot for the building.

“With the difficulty with financing it has become more of a challenge,” said Repstad of Binswanger/Realty Advisory Group Inc.

Repstad said that Endpak will spend between $200,000 and $300,000 to upgrade its new facilities and should begin operations at its new headquarters by Sept. 1.

Ken Coward of Colliers International represented the buyer of the Paramount warehouse and Repstad was on the seller’s side.

Santa Monica Lease

Knoll Inc., a high-end office furniture manufacturer based in East Greenville, Pa., has renewed the lease for its Santa Monica office and showroom. The 124-month lease at 214 Wilshire Blvd. is valued at $8.4 million. The deal with Rockville, Md., landlord Federal Realty Investment Trust, which specializes in retail property, closed in mid-June.

The 15,193-square-foot deal starts at $3.80 per square foot per month, on a full-service gross basis. The price is considered robust in the current down market.

“We feel like in this environment, with the way retailers are going dark throughout the country, we just renewed a great tenant,” said Brad Feld of brokerage Madison Partners, who represented the landlord. “We felt like we got a market rent. It could be an above-market rent in the next three to six months if the market doesn’t get better.”

The lease will commence Jan. 1. David Prosser, western division vice president for Knoll, said that his company never considered leaving the building. He added that it opened the office and showroom nine years ago, before other furniture makers such as Allsteel Inc. moved to the area and made Santa Monica a high-end office furniture hub.

“I was asked, ‘Do we want to move?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not,'” Prosser said. “I think we’ve got the premier space in all of Southern California in the office furniture industry.”

Prosser said his company will spend about $400,000 to refurbish the office and showroom.

Grubb & Ellis Inc.’s David Kilborn represented Knoll.

College Buys

ICDC College, a multicampus associate degree school with four locations in Southern California, has bought a 24,086-square-foot office building at 5995 S. Sepulveda Blvd. in Culver City. The $7.9 million deal with the seller, a group of L.A. real estate investors under the name 5995 S. Sepulveda LLC, closed June 26.

The college will use the three-story brick building to house its corporate headquarters, said Andrew Jennison of Madison Partners. Jennison brokered both sides of the sale. He described it as a turnkey asset: The building had been renovated in 2006 to the tune of $1.5 million. The sale breaks down to $328 per square foot.

“I think it’s a good price for the Culver City market,” Jennison said.

He added that the college has already moved from its former Hollywood headquarters and is occupying about half of the Culver City property. It will retain the tenants who occupy the rest of the building.

Travis Landrum of Madison Partners also represented both sides of the deal.

Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.