THE DEAL SHEET
| SALES |
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| Manulife Financial Corp, the Toronto-based financial services giant, has bought the 536k SF Michelson office tower at 3161 Michelson Dr in Irvine from Emmes Asset Management for a reported $270M. That would make the deal the largest CRE trade in OC so far this year. The 19-story building is in the Park Place campus near John Wayne Airport and counts Hyundai Capital America and LA Fitness International as major tenants.***BTBC Investors has purchased 3301 W Segerstrom Ave in Santa Ana, a 35.9k SF industrial building, from a private investor for an undisclosed sum. The building dates from the 1970s and occupies 1.7 acres. Voit Real Estate Services’ Greg Velastegui repped the buyer, while Lee & Associates’ Greg Diab repped the seller. |
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| Urban Commons bought the 222-room Embassy Suites-Anaheim-North from FelCor Lodging Trust $25.5M. HREC Investment Advisors’Bill Murney and Michael Blahosky repped FelCor. It’s the second hotel property that Urban Commons has acquired in OC in the last 12 months.*** Hines and Oaktree Capital Management acquired 16800 and 16802 Aston St in Irvine, which together form the Bay Technology Center. The buyers paid over $11M for the property, which dates from the mid-80s and was 85% vacant at the time of the purchase. According to Hines and Oaktree, they plan to build walkways between the Bay Technology Center and the nearby Alton Corporate Plaza, which they also own, as well as refurbish the lobbies at 16800 and 16802 Aston St. CBRE’s Paul Jones, Robert Smith, and Karen Scholte repped the seller, while the buyer repped itself. *** The Cheesecake Factory acquired the 29k SF 9 Corporate Park, an office building in Irvine, for $4.7M. The restaurant chain plans to fully occupy the building to accommodate its design division, which produces all the interior design planning and refurbishing for its restaurants worldwide. Voit Real Estate Services’ Trent Walker repped the Cheesecake Factory, and CBRE’s Richard Pincott repped the sellers, Richard and Betty Jane Farrell. |
| DEVELOPMENT |
| The City of Anaheim has granted ProLogis a five-year extension on its plans to build near Angel Stadium on 18 acres at State College Boulevard and Gene Autry Way. Plans for the site call for more than 1,200 residential units and 150k SF of commercial space, as well as a 1.7-acre park. ProLogis originally inked the development agreement in 2007, with a deadline in November of this year. |
| LEASING |
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| Walmart is planning to assume the lease of a Great Indoors location at the Irvine Home Center on Technology Dr in Irvine. The appliance warehouse location, a Sears Holding Co brand, closed last year at the site, which is owned by the Irvine Co. As yet, the retail giant hasn’t released an opening date for the store, but it will be the second one in Orange County, after a 120k SF store at 16555 Von Karman Ave opens later this year. Walmart has aggressive plans for OC, with some 20 sites in the works all together.*** Pacific World Corp, a supplier of proprietary nail and beauty care products, has inked a 30.8k SF lease at the Summit Office Campus in Aliso Viejo to relocate its HQ from Lake Forest. Stream Realty Partners' Colby Annett and Blaine Annett repped the landlord, RREEF, while Guardian Commercial Realty's Robert Chavez repped the tenant. *** Premier Mounts is moving its HQ from Anaheim to 65k SF in a new building on State College Blvd in Fullerton. Currently, the audiovisual products specialist occupies 150k SF in Anaheim but will move most of its logistics operations to Memphis. *** Habit Restaurants has said that it will open four more restaurants in OC this year. The new locations will be in San Clemente, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, and Irvine. The company has 60 Habit Burger Grill locations in California and Arizona. |
| CRE EXECS |
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| JLL SVP Zachary Niles, in the company’s Irvine office,has been named one of the recipients of the 2012 Developing Leaders Award, given by NAIOP. His involvement with NAIOP SoCal includes serving as the current vice-chair of the Young Professionals Group, of which he will be chair/president in 2013. He has also been a member and chair of the group’s Community Outreach Committee.*** Voit Real Estate Services has tapped Joe Newman as its regional director of asset services for Southern California. In this role, Joe will oversee the company's asset services in OC, LA County, San Diego and the Inland Empire. Previously, Joe was director of CBRE San Diego's asset services division and downtown brokerage office. |
