A single-tenant freestanding retail property occupied by Henley Enterprises (dba Valvoline) at 400 East 17th St. in Costa Mesa recently sold for $3.1 million or $3,454-per-square-foot. According to CoStar research, the sales price was the highest recorded price nationally paid for an oil services triple net property.

Valvoline (initially dba EZ Lube) has been operating at this location since 2000. The buyer, Henley Enterprises, is a Massachusetts-based owner-user who was in a 1031-Exchange and represented itself in the transaction.

“The record-breaking sale price for this deal is attributed to the property’s highly desirable location on 17th Street in Costa Mesa, drawing from the highly affluent eastside Costa Mesa and Newport Beach neighborhoods,” says Michael Walseth, executive vice president of Kidder Mathews, who represented the seller, a Newport Beach-based investor. “The standalone property offers strong operational history, a parking field, efficient drive-through building design and ultimately, ideal functionality for an oil change service. Additionally, high investor demand bolstered by clients seeking to complete 1031 exchanges prior to the imminent tax environment in the coming years are big factors in the price.”