COMMERCIAL
Tile king Larry Bedrosian recently leased 375,000 square feet at 1515 E. Winston Road in Anaheim. Deal value: $10.9 million.
Fresno-based Bedrosians, a supplier of tiles and stone slabs, may relocate from Tustin or may use the Anaheim building to expand, according to its broker Jeff Chiate of Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Chiate said Bedrosian long has eyed the Winston Road building, which is near “Tile Mile.”
Brad Bierbaum and Ian Britton in the Anaheim office of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. represented the landlord, Winston Road Realty Holdings.
In 2003, Larry Bedrosian bought a 500,000-square-foot industrial building at Steelcase Inc.’s former Tustin campus. He relocated operations from Anaheim and Corona. Now he could be planning a move back to Anaheim.
In late 2003, Bedrosian leased half of the former Steelcase building to Ricoh Electronics Inc., which consolidated two assembly plants there. Ricoh, a unit of Japan’s Ricoh Co., makes copiers and fax machines.
Bedrosians should start occupying the Anaheim building in April.
Demand for granite and tile among homebuyers is helping to drive the company’s expansion. Some of Southern California’s biggest homebuilders, such as KB Home and Lennar Corp., carry Bedrosians tile or countertops.
SoCal Plunge
New York-based The Rockefeller Group International Inc. has closed its first big deal in Southern California, after setting up a regional headquarters last year in Newport Beach.
The company has formed a joint venture with Tejon Ranch Co. to develop 500 acres on the ranch, which is north of Los Angeles, as a federally designated foreign trade zone.
Rockefeller contributed $65 million in cash and Tejon committed $65 million worth of land to the partnership, Tejon said.
One of Rockefeller’s divisions is a consultant to companies on the benefits of foreign trade zones. The special designation allows manufacturers or distributors to defer or eliminate duty on imported items or raw materials.
The company is working with Sweden-based Ikea International AS on getting foreign trade zone designation for its distribution center at the ranch.
In October, Rockefeller opened its local office at 4695 MacArthur Court and another in downtown Los Angeles. Today, Rockefeller, which developed New York’s Rockefeller Center, is a unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate Co.
The last time Rockefeller had a strong presence in California was in the 1980s, when the company still was in the hands of the Rockefeller family. The Rockefellers built Embarcadero Center’s five office towers in San Francisco in phases from 1968 to 1983.
Thomas McCormick is overseeing the company’s expansion in Southern California from Newport Beach. A year ago, Rockefeller lured him from Panattoni Development Co. in Sacramento, where he was chief operating officer.
Murrieta Buy
A Newport Beach-based development partnership recently bought 15.6 acres in Murrieta with plans to build small industrial buildings for sale or lease.
Jefferson Business Center LLC paid nearly $5 million for the land near Interstate 15, according to Chris Migliori, executive vice president in the Anaheim office of GVA Daum. He and Jim DeRegt of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc.’s Newport Beach office represented the buyers.
Migliori said the new owners plan to break ground in the coming months on 20 buildings totaling 243,000 square feet. The buildings are set to range from 5,000 to 25,000 square feet.
The estimated value of the completed project is $32 million, he said.
RESIDENTIAL
Orange County’s mortgage companies may see a boost in refinancing from an usual source: people opting out of adjustable rate mortgages into fixed rate ones.
While the Federal Reserve is pushing up short-term rates, long-term rates are staying put. They usually move in tandem.
The result: The gap is closing between the two types of rates. Some borrowers are switching to fixed-rate mortgages, which entail less risk.
The trend may be more prevalent in less costly markets than OC. But mortgage companies based here, such as Ditech.com, make loans in other states.
The average national rate on a one-year adjustable rate mortgage is 4.16%, according to Freddie Mac. A 30-year fixed goes for 5.69%, and a 15-year, which is popular among borrowers seeking to refinance, goes for 5.22%.
In the past two years, one-year adjustables were 3.5% to 3.9%.
The 30-year fixed mortgage bottomed out in June 2003 at 5.21%. Then it started rising along with Fed hikes of the key federal funds rate. Yet after rising above 6%, it began dropping again.
The situation is anything but predictable. In February an index that tracks wholesale prices shot up more than expected. Investors responded by dumping long-term bonds, pushing up their yields.
Within a week, another survey showed consumer prices rose less than anticipated in January. The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond then settled around 4.27% late last month.
And early last week, inflation data indicated the Federal Reserve might pick up its pace of tightening.
