Las Vegas investor snaps up office buildings as market finds footing from pandemic

Las Vegas real estate investor Jeff Pori has recently loaded up on office buildings, buying in a market that’s still finding its footing after a pandemic-sparked upheaval.

His firm, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, bought three office buildings near St. Rose Parkway just south of the 215 Beltway this month. It followed the purchase of three office buildings off Green Valley Parkway just north of the Beltway in July.

The Henderson buildings sold for $114.5 million combined and in total, span just over 347,000 square feet, brokerage firm CBRE Group recently announced.

CBRE said it represented sellers JMA Ventures and Blue Vista Capital Management in the portfolio sale.

Pori, CEO of Kingsbarn, told the Review-Journal that Las Vegas’ office market is strong, even though office buildings in general are “not in favor” right now.

Investors often pile into the hottest real estate segments, and overlooked properties “become much more attractive,” he added.

The key, he said, is to “buy the right ones in the unfavored sector.”

According to CBRE, the Henderson portfolio was around 94 percent occupied at the time of sale.

This summer, Kingsbarn also bought a three-story office building near Russell Road and the Beltway, in the southwest valley, for $26 million, property records show. When the firm announced its purchase of the building, it said the 67,415-square-foot property was 96 percent leased.

After the coronavirus pandemic hit, work-from-home arrangements raised questions over how much office space firms really needed. And even though much of daily life has since returned to normal, working full-time in the office hasn’t.

Las Vegas’ office market is far from quiet as employers are leasing space, developers are putting up new projects, and many workers have returned to their office buildings.

Nationally, working remotely full-time is expected to decrease, but working from the office full-time “is expected to remain a relic of the past,” polling firm Gallup reported last month.

Among the estimated 70 million-plus U.S. employees who could do their jobs from home, five in 10 were following a hybrid format of in-office and at-home work as of June. Three in 10 were exclusively working remotely, and only two in 10 were working entirely on-site, Gallup said.

A survey released this month by CBRE cited a “disconnect between employer and employee expectations” surrounding the office.

According to the report, 84 percent of respondents wanted their employees in the office at least 2 1/2 days per week. But only 25 percent believed their workers would voluntarily come to the office more often than they do now.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.