The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange has completed the sale of its former administrative headquarters in Orange, which is slated to be turned into a residential development by Aliso Viejo-based New Home Co.
The church last month completed the sale of the Marywood Pastoral Center, a 15-acre hilltop campus in a largely residential neighborhood a few blocks east of the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway.
The property, which has about 100,000 square feet of office and classroom space, sold for about $19 million, according to CoStar Group Inc. estimates.
Marywood was put up for sale in 2012 in preparation for the church’s move to the former Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, now known as Christ Cathedral, which it bought out of bankruptcy the same year for $57.5 million.
The Marywood campus is on the site of a one-time all-girls Catholic high school at 2811 E. Villareal Drive. The property also included a chapel, library, cafeteria and gym. It had been used for diocese offices since the 1970s.
The site initially was expected to attract those looking to use the space for educational, government, corporate and other religious uses.
New Home Co. instead took an interest in the site for a potential housing development.
The builder last October got city approvals for a 40-home project there, with houses running from 3,800 to 4,400 square feet.
New Home officials said at the time of the city’s approval that homes at the development would likely sell for $1 million to $2 million. The first models could open by early next year, officials said last October.
The builder doesn’t appear to have paid the church directly for the Marywood site, instead entering into a land banking arrangement with Calabasas-based Hearthstone Inc.
Hearthstone, an institutional real estate investor that partners with builders on individual projects by providing equity financing, took over ownership of the Orange site last month, according to property records.
New Home could have other land deals brewing, officials said during the company’s latest quarterly analyst call late last month.
What’s more, many of the deals also could take place off the Irvine Ranch, the company’s largest source of business in the past few years, both for projects built under its own name and for the fee-building operations of Irvine Pacific LP, the in-house building arm of Newport Beach-based Irvine Company.
“In terms of the deals we’re tying up now in terms of what’s coming to market in 2017 for us, there are other master-planned communities in very well located locations in Southern California, which we will be participating in now that we weren’t in the past,” chief financial officer John Stephens told analysts.
New Home isn’t looking to reduce the volume of fee-based work it performs for Irvine Co., chief executive Larry Webb said.
The builder believes “our relationship with the Irvine Co. is very important and a differentiator for our company,” said Webb, whose company is building Irvine Pacific’s homes at the new Eastwood village that opened in February.
“All the indicators we’ve had is that our fee business will continue to be solid and strong, and really over the long run we should be delivering 500 to 750 homes year in and year out in Orange County,” he said.
Medical Office Sale
Newport Beach-based Mark IV Capital has sold one of its local properties, a medical office building in Irvine, at a top-dollar price.
The real estate investor last month completed the sale of Barranca Medical Plaza, a two-story, 29,698-square-foot building about a block from the intersection of Jamboree Road and Barranca Parkway.
The 62 Corporate Park office sold for about $14.5 million, or nearly $488 per square foot. An affiliate of Los Angeles-based Jade Enterprises LLC bought it through a 1031 exchange.
CBRE’s Gary Stache, Anthony DeLorenzo and Doug Mack represented Mark IV in the sale.
The property was approximately 88% occupied at the time of sale, according to CBRE.
