By Jack Stubbs
On Thursday, December 14th, 21 parcels of land sold for $36.5 million, or roughly $1,738,095 per parcel, according to public records filed with Pierce County. The buying entity was Butler Exchange Group LLC, a 1031 exchange company based in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The seller was Charlotte, North Carolina-based Hancock Forest Management, a manager of timberland properties. The transaction was recorded on December 15th.
As a 1031 exchange company, Butler Exchange Group will be the owner of record for the property until the property is passed on to another buyer at a point in the future. The property in question will either be a reverse exchange or an improvement exchange, according to a source at Butler Exchange familiar with the transaction.
The property is comprised of 21 undeveloped individual parcels of designated forest land. The records do not specify a specific address for the parcels, however the property is located roughly three miles to the northeast of Eatonville. Rimrock County Park lies approximately one mile to the south, and Chop Lake is approximately one mile to the east of the said property. The parcels are roughly 30 miles to the south of Puyallup and about three miles from access to Washington State Route 161.
Butler Exchange Group LLC provides 1031 tax-deferred exchange services nationwide, according to the company’s web site. Owner and attorney Toija Beutler provides services pertaining to various aspects of 1031 to investors, real estate professionals, tax advisors and attorneys.
Hancock Forest Management is the property management subsidiary of the Hancock Timber Resource Group (HTRG) and is one of the world’s largest timberland investment managers for institutional investors, according to the company’s web site. The company combines leading forest management techniques with environmental stewardship in its client services. The company focuses on the day-to-day timberland management services for HTRG’s investors on approximately three million acres across the United States and New Zealand. The company seeks to provide management at the property level, aiming to protect and enhance managed lands by maximizing the value of timberland for its individual investors.
