Staff Writer- Sacramento Business Journal
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Though he said bargains aren’t as easy to find as they used to be, Ethan Conrad has kept buying commercial properties of all kinds in the region.

Within the last month, he bought four buildings totaling 19,000 square feet on 6720-6728 Fair Oaks Blvd., and in a separate deal three buildings totaling 27,000 square feet on Explorer Drive.

“Both of these properties are good ‘owner-user’ buildings and my plan is to sell these buildings, which I essentially bought ‘in bulk,’ individually to owner users,” Conrad said in an email. He did not share purchase prices for the buildings.

Within the last few weeks, Conrad said, he also bought a 12,000-square-foot office/retail building at 8109 Fruitridge Road in Sacramento, also for an undisclosed price. That building will be leased back to La Bou, he added.

All of his recent purchases will be fully remodeled. Conrad of Ethan Conrad Properties has become well known in commercial real estate circles for scooping up properties at below-market prices and aggressively working to redevelop and market them. He said doing so has become more difficult as the commercial property market overall has recovered in the last couple years.

“I would say generally that the properties that are still good deals are ones that are clearly high-risk properties,” he said.