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Watumull Properties Corp. saw an opportunity at a printing plant in Gresham that the longtime owner was looking to unload. In many ways, it was a typical Watumull investment.

Watumull purchased the 13.6-acre manufacturing site at 17401 N.E. Halsey St. for $5.75 million from R.R. Donnelley and Sons, an Illinois-based printing company that opted to close the plant last year and lay off 113 workers.

It was the largest sale of an individual industrial building in Portland for the year to date. Watumull rebranded the property as the Halsey Corporate Center and selected CBRE as leasing agent.

鈥淲e hope to use part of it for distribution and part of it for manufacturing,鈥� said J.D. Watumull, president of Watumull Properties Corp.

The property off of Interstate 84 adds to the company’s growing real-estate portfolio in the Portland area. Watumull Properties, founded in 1914, owns dozens of properties in the Portland market.

鈥淲e are very pleased to be able to acquire such a well located industrial property so close to I-84 to add to our growing real-estate portfolio in the Portland metro area,鈥� Watumull stated in a news release announcing the deal.

Operating from an office in a luxurious waterfront district in Honolulu, the fourth-generation family firm has quietly become one of Portland’s largest property investors.

The company typically buys properties and holds them for the long term, earning income from lessees. Watumull still owns the first Portland property it purchased, a building in Heintz Industrial Park on Riverside Way in Northeast Portland.

The company has benefitted from a long run for industrial property. Rents have risen steadily in recent years as shipping companies, fulfillment centers and general industrial users bid up locations near population centers and transportation corridors.

Watumull Properties is careful not to overextend in the booming market, Jaidev 鈥淛.D.鈥� Watumull, the company’s president, 聽said.

鈥淲e always like to think we’re cautious,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s been a long expansion period. You always need to be conservative.鈥�

Watumull is the grandson of the company’s founder, Jhamanda, who hailed from India, and son of Gulab, who also leads the family company. J.D. Watumull’s son Jared is also active in the family business and regularly visits Portland, brokers said.

The Watumull business empire started out as a chain of Hawaiian retail stores before transitioning into real-estate investments. The family is well known in Hawaii for supporting a variety of charitable causes and arts organizations.

Robert Niehaus, a longtime Portland commercial broker, said he’s done 鈥渄ozens and dozens鈥� of deals with Watumull Properties since the 1980s. The Watumulls invest in industrial, office and retail properties 鈥� in that order of priority. They have not delved into the residential market in Oregon. Another guideline: The Watumulls are interested only in investment properties within an hour’s drive of Portland International Airport.

鈥淭heir model is to offer cash, typically without a financing contingency,鈥� Niehaus said. 鈥淏rokers love it and sellers love it.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭heir model is a quick look and a quick close. So they’re ideal for brokers and sellers. For that, they like a premium on the cap rate.鈥�

The capitalization rate, or cap rate, is a ratio of a property’s value or sale price to the income generated by the property. A high cap rate implies a low purchase price relative to the owner’s revenue on the property.

Watumull Properties primarily invests in three markets: Hawaii, Portland and Denver. In Portland, the company has established a large footprint.

鈥淚 enjoy working with them because they’re in tune with the market and can move quickly,鈥� said Cara Nolan, first vice president at CBRE. 鈥淭hat says a lot. Sometimes 鈥� but not always 鈥� with some of the larger ownerships, they can’t jump on opportunities as quickly as Watumull.鈥�

Nolan, who is representing Watumull’s Gresham property, said the company’s hands-on family leadership is an asset.

鈥淚t could be a 2,000-square-foot lease deal or a $15 million sale 鈥� you’re still talking to the same decision makers,鈥� Nolan said.

Watumull pulled off one of Portland’s biggest industrial deals of 2016 in September, when the company purchased the Crosswhite Industrial Park, at 6461 S.E. Crosswhite Way, from Crosswhite Enterprises for $20 million, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle report. The off-market transaction equated to $75 per square foot, and came at a 7.5 percent cap rate. The 267,000-square-foot facility was fully leased by Precision Castparts.

Watumull Properties has diversified geographically throughout the Portland metro area.

鈥淭hey’ve invested in pretty much all our submarkets,鈥� Nolan said.聽 鈥淰ancouver, Northeast, close-in Southeast. They’re in Sunset Corridor. They’re in Southwest. The type of product they have runs from smaller, flexier-type spaces to 350,000-square-foot manufacturing facilities.鈥�

As industrial demand has grown, vacancies fell to 3.5 percent and asking rents rose to $0.58 per square foot.

Much of the demand for industrial space in metro Portland is driven by e-commerce. Amazon is backing the largest industrial development in recent years with plans for an 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center at Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park near I-84.

Watumull made a splash earlier this year when the company announced a joint venture with Winkler Development to create The Hopper in Northwest Portland. The project aims to transform 167,000 square feet of industrial space on 5.3 acres at 2000 N.W. Wilson St. The site is a former Cenveo Corp. printing plant.

The project, adjacent to Slabtown and the Pearl District, is being marketed as an urban campus for a possible tech tenant. The property could be used by a single tenant or multiple tenants for a range of industrial or office uses, according to brokers.

Unlike many Watumull properties, The Hopper includes a retail component. The space will be configured to attract a 鈥渄estination retail鈥� outlet.

Cushman & Wakefield is representing the property. Senior director Brad Carnese declined to comment. But in a prepared statement, Carnese said Portland’s 鈥渋nvigorated economy and growing commercial real estate markets remain propelled by a slew of companies wanting to expand or position themselves in the Portland market, which we believe bodes well for the timing of this new job center.鈥�