RESIDENTIAL
A real estate investment trust overseen by Texas-based Behringer Harvard Holdings LLC has become one of the area’s biggest buyers of apartment complexes, as well as a frequent partner for some of Orange County’s more active apartment and condominium builders.
Officials with the Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I Inc. said this month they were buying San Sebastian, a recently built senior housing complex in Laguna Woods with 134 apartments.
The complex, spread over 3 acres, was built at the site of an old Leisure World administration building off Calle de La Plata. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Comparable sales appear to put the purchase price in the $35 million or higher range.
The San Sebastian project originally was slated to be a condo development, headed up by Newport Beach-based Robert Mayer Corp. Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. was the builder, with an initial completion time slated for early 2008.
It ended up being finished last year, according to Behringer, which bought the property in a deal with Phoenix-based Alliance Residential Co.
Leasing is set to start soon, Behringer said.
It’s the second deal in recent months involving both Behringer and Standard Pacific. It is also one of four deals that the Dallas-based investor has made with OC-based builders since last fall.
Those four acquisitions have exceeded $100 million in total.
In October, Behringer Harvard paid about $26 million for Redwood Lofts, a 140-apartment complex in Marina del Rey that is being rebranded as Forty55 Lofts. The project also was built by Standard Pacific, and like San Sebastian it was once envisioned as condos.
The San Sebastian sale also comes a month after Behringer Harvard bought another recently built apartment complex in Irvine: the Calypso Apartments and Lofts. The 177-unit development is on the corner of Jamboree Road and Alton Parkway, across the street from the Diamond Jamboree shopping center.
The price for December’s Calypso deal is said to be $49 million, or about $277,000 per apartment. The building was built by Aliso Viejo-based Shea Properties, part of Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co. Calypso opened in 2008 and was also originally envisioned as condos.
Shea Properties also sold another apartment complex in Northern California to Behringer in October, a 277-unit complex in Santa Rosa for $38.7 million.
Grubb Goes to Texas
While Texas’ Behringer has been snapping up OC projects, a real estate investment trust headed by Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. is turning its eyes toward the Lone Star State.
Grubb & Ellis Apartment REIT Inc. said earlier this month it had entered into a letter of intent to buy Bella Ruscello Luxury Apartment Homes, a complex 20 miles from Dallas.
The proposed sale price for the 216-unit Bella Ruscello is $17.4 million, or about $81,000 per apartment. The complex is currently owned by Duncanville Villages Multifamily Ltd.
If the Texas deal goes through, it would be the first acquisition that Grubb’s apartment fund has made in more than 15 months, according to filings the company’s made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It now owns 13 complexes with about 3,500 apartments.
The apartment fund began raising money in 2006. To date it’s raised close to $170 million.
COMMERCIAL
Newport Beach-based Master Development Corp. has landed its largest tenant to date for the West Corona Commerce Center, a 321,700-square-foot industrial project it built a few years ago.
Waggin’ Train LLC, an Anderson, S.C.-based maker and distributor of dog treats, recently signed a 37-month, 122,000-square-foot lease at the development. The lease is valued at $1.3 million, which puts monthly rents at about 29 cents per square foot.
The tenant plans to use the property for its West Coast distribution operations. The lease begins this month.
Master Development bought the 15-acre site in 2007 and opened it the following year.
More Sheet Metal
Accurate Metal Fabricators LLC, an Anaheim-based sheet metal manufacturer that also has facilities in Seal Beach and Las Vegas, is relocating its headquarters to a new location in its hometown, according to brokers.
The company recently signed a 135-month lease for a 153,320-square-foot industrial building on 3340 E. La Palma Ave. The building’s owned by San Diego-based Kilroy Realty Corp. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Accurate Metal plans to occupy the building for its sheet metal operations in the second half of the year.
Kilroy was represented by Rob Socci of Voit Real Estate Services. Accurate Metal was represented by Dave Desper of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.
Sheet metal’s been a popular industry for Anaheim-area industrial brokers of late. Last month, Pinnacle Precision Sheet Metal Corp., another Anaheim-based manufacturer, bought a 65,000-square-foot industrial building at 5410 E. La Palma.
