Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. Sells More Than 1/2-Million Square Feet During Last Quarter

Business Wire, Jan 13, 2005

OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. has sold more than 600,000 square feet of property in the last quarter, including several notable transactions throughout the United States.

The firm has been particularly busy in its home state of Illinois. However, the company completed activity in California, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana, supporting the trend toward increased use of real estate auctions.

"The Chicagoland area continues to be one of the strongest auction markets in the country," said Frank Diliberto, senior vice president of Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. "However, unlike conventional real estate practices, which often focus on geographical areas, our auction process is really an exportable marketing strategy. We are finding more requests for out-of-state deals due to the uniqueness of the real estate auction service."

Among the properties sold by Inland Real Estate Auctions: a 108,000-square-foot shopping center in southern California for $14.65 million. In an unusual move, Inland Real Estate Auctions represented the buyer of this property in a conventional sale, acting as broker and consultant rather than auctioneer.

In Illinois the company auctioned a newly developed convenience store and gas station, located near I-57 in Monee. The property was ultimately purchased by GasCity for $1.6 million.

In Indiana, Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. sold a 193,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse facility. The facility, located at 1200 Madison Ave. in Indianapolis, was offered absolute, meaning the top bidder won the auction regardless of price. The seller chose the auction process in order to guarantee the property's sale by the end of the year, and in order to obtain evidence of the property's value - something that is always identified in a competitive auction.

In St. Augustine, Fla.: DeerPark Investment Corporation, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based developer, hired Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. to auction their remaining lots in the St. Augustine Industrial Park. The lots totaled 25 acres for a gross sales volume of $1.7 million.

"The park was about 50 percent sold out going into the auction," said Paul Rogers, associate vice president of Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. "DeerPark chose the auction process because it would have cost too much to market and occupy the remaining sites until a conventional sale was achieved--something that can take as long as eighteen months."

The auction marketing was accomplished inside six weeks time and generated more than 90 calls from 13 states.

In Ohio, Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. was retained to sell a manufacturing facility in Wauseon, a town located about 30 miles southwest of Toledo. The property, adjacent to a municipal airport on County Road, included a 15-acre retail site with a 40,350-square-foot building.

"We chose to use the auction process because we wanted to reach a regional market in a short time span and sell the property this year for tax purposes," said Don Nelson, its former owner. "We couldn't have been more pleased with the results."

In Wisconsin, GE Capital, a repeat client of Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc., retained the firm to sell an industrial property that had been foreclosed upon. The property, located 120 miles northwest of Green Bay in Medford, Wis., sold for $155,000.

"Auctions have always been used to accelerate the time of sale," Diliberto said. "But sellers are now finding that auctions can also help them achieve a greater rate of return, by eliminating the cost of holding the property through the conventional market process. Conventional marketing can require many months and find only few bidders, while the auction process can be completed in weeks and find many bidders."

Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc. (www.inlandreauctions.com) is part of The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc., which comprises independent real estate investment and financial companies doing business nationwide. With more 35 years of experience focusing on auctions, commercial real estate brokerage, investment, property management, land development, acquisition and mortgage lending, Inland is one of the nation's largest privately-held real estate companies. Inland's national headquarters is in Oak Brook, Ill.