The ground lease is for 7.25 acres at 14500 Firestone Blvd., next to the 5 freeway.
The Irvine-based company plans to entitle the vacant property for a variety of uses.
“Centrally located on the border of Orange and Los Angeles counties, this property provides an exceptional opportunity to create various commercial-oriented uses that benefit from its I-5 frontage,” Shopoff Realty President and Chief Executive William Shopoff said in a statement. “The Shopoff team will work to create sub-ground leases for uses such as restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, billboard advertising and more.”
In a ground lease, different groups own the land and the improvements on the land. The landowner gets guaranteed monthly rent without having to invest money on building on the land or spend time managing a property.
The person with the ground lease, meanwhile, does not have to pay for the land, while getting the opportunity to build on the land, which is often in desirable areas with a lack of available inventory and high barriers to entry.
Caltrans, according to Shopoff Realty, is investing $1.9 billion to widen the 5 and 605 freeways near the land where it acquired the ground lease, increasing its desirability.
“This will add additional value to the property as increased consumer visibility will benefit commercial tenants,” Brian Rupp, Shopoff Realty’s vice president of real estate, said in a statement.
Shopoff Realty has been busy. Earlier this year it sold Mead Valley Quarry, a 577-acre vacant property in Riverside County, for $23 million and 80 acres of land in Chino Hills to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
The company also has been active with construction. In June, Shopoff announced it had broken ground on a logistics center in the Inland Empire, a joint venture with Artemis Real Estate Partners.
