Industry sources are pointing to one of the world’s largest state-owned investment funds as the likely new owner of the Hilton Anaheim.
The Business Journal broke the news of the blockbuster sale of the 1,572-room Hilton— Orange County’s largest hotel by room count—in the Aug. 27 issue.
Little was known about the buyer at the time of that story, and the new ownership group still has yet to be officially confirmed.
Property records show a Delaware-based buyer, operating under the HHC HA Investments II Inc. name, taking over the hotel, which is located at 777 Convention Way, next to the Anaheim Convention Center. Research previously showed the LLC having ties to investors in the United Arab Emirates, which was reported in the Aug. 27 story of the sale.
Sources now tell the Business Journal the buyer is likely affiliated to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, or ADIA, which invests funds on behalf of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In 2010 ADIA was estimated to be the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world and was estimated to have more than $600 billion in assets.
ADIA has invested in other hotels and hotel operators. In 2009 it bought a 10% stake in Hyatt Hotels Corp. Last month, it was reported to be eyeing a nearly $1 billion bid to buy more than 40 hotels operated by Marriott that were being sold by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The Business Journal pegged the Anaheim Hilton sale in the range of $215 million to $230 million in last month’s story. CoStar Group Inc. data now show a $216.1 million value of the sale, which works out to a price of a little more than $137,000 per room.
Walmart Sale
A La Habra retail building where a Walmart supercenter is expected to open in a few months has traded hands for a reported $16.5 million, according to brokerage data.
A 103,000-square-foot building at 1000 East Imperial Highway, the former site of a Target, was bought at the end of August by a Los Angeles-based entity listed in property records as West S9 LLC.
The seller was an affiliate of Santa Ana-based ICI Development Co., according to CoStar Group data.
ICI reportedly paid $9.2 million for the property in June 2011, according to retail brokerage data.
The building is located on an 8-acre lot near the intersection of Imperial Highway and Harbor Boulevard
HB Apartments
An industrial property just off Edinder Avenue in Huntington Beach is the latest site near the Bella Terra mall that’s being eyed for apartment development.
A 24,129-square-foot building at 16072 Gothard just traded hands for $3.25 million, or about $132 per square foot, according to brokers with the local offices of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.
The building is situated on a 1.3-acre lot and is zoned for future residential development—likely in the 70 to 110 unit range—according to Michael Walseth, a land specialist in Marcus & Millichap’s Newport Beach office who worked on the deal with colleague Gordon Reese.
The property was sold to an undisclosed investor who needed to fulfill a 1031 exchange requirement, according to brokers. The buyer plans to operate the building while holding the property for future development.
Property records show the building was last owned by a private investor operating under the JF Fredensburg Ltd.
The area around Bella Terra is seeing a heavy dose of residential development activity of late, with a total of nearly 1,800 apartments in the works or proposed along Edinger Avenue and Beach Boulevard.
HQ Relocation
Corporate Business Interiors, one of the largest office furniture and interior wall construction distributers in California, is moving its headquarters from Irvine to Newport Beach’s Bayview Corporate Center office complex.
The company, also known as CBI, just inked a seven-year, 13,943-square-foot lease at Bayview Corporate Center, a pair of connected six-story offices that total about 348,000 square feet at 3501 Jamboree Road.
CBI will occupy space on the fourth floor of one of the buildings, which recently underwent a $6 million renovation.
Jeff Morgan, Carol Trapani and Jake Stickel from the Newport Beach office of CBRE Group Inc., which also has its offices at Bayview, represented the landlord, SK Hart Bayview LLC, in the transaction. CBI was represented in the transaction by Lori Janzen, also with CBRE.
CBI bills itself as the largest Allsteel office furniture distributor in California.
