A Newport Beach-based businessman’s bet on commercial development in Las Vegas made near the peak of the market reportedly has resulted in one of the steeper drops in commercial land prices the hard-hit area has seen of late.
Lightstone Acquisitions, a unit of New York-based real estate investment group Lightstone Group, recently paid a bank $4.4 million for an undeveloped 23.5-acre property just off the Las Vegas Beltway.
The building last traded hands for $30.2 million in 2007 when it was bought by Newport Beach developer Dominic Magliarditi.
In Orange County, Magliarditi’s better known as the president of Irvine-based 2TheMart.com Inc., a long-defunct Internet auction site whose executive team included Steven Rebeil. Rebeil now is involved in hotel development.
Magliarditi planned a mixed-use development at the site, according to a report in the Las Vegas Sun. The land was foreclosed on and sold by City National Bank.
The 85% drop in price for the proposed commercial development site is similar to what’s being seen in Las Vegas residential land prices, which outside the resort corridor are down more than 80% from peak prices, according to Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis.
Dakota Deal
A nontraded real estate investment trust headed by Irvine’s Thompson National Properties LLC has bought a shopping center in Bismarck, N.D.
TNP Strategic Retail Trust Inc. paid $15 million for the 114,292-square-foot Pinehurst Square East shopping center, which was built in 2005.
The property was bought from a group of tenant-in-common investors. The capitalization rate for the deal was about 8.6%, according to regulatory filings.
It’s the sixth property the fund has acquired.
Tenants at the shopping center include TJ Maxx, Old Navy, David’s Bridal and Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The center is about 92% full.
The deal included a cash payment of about $842,000 and the repayment of a $13.2 million loan, plus the issuance of shares.
Thompson National launched its nontraded fund in 2009. The fund invests in grocery and drugstore anchored shopping centers and has raised about $30 million from investors.
In addition to the fund, Thompson National also manages 150 commercial properties, totaling close to 20 million square feet.
The company also provides valuation and advisory services for about 2.3 million square feet of real estate in Saudi Arabia.
Office Sale
A prominent midsize building along Von Karman Avenue in the Koll Center Newport office park is up for sale.
The two-story, 28,158-square-foot building, at 4220 Von Karman Ave., is across the street from the Pacific Club and counts tenants including law firm Manly & Stewart and DPR Construction.
The building’s asking price is a little less than $9 million, or about $319 per square foot. The sale price includes a $6.7 million loan than will need to be assumed, according to marketing material.
Brokers with Irvine’s 360 Commercial Partners have the listing for the property.
Apartment Upswing
An apartment complex in Northern California recently built by Aliso Viejo-based Shea Properties Inc. has seen a nearly $30 million rise in its value, some 20 months after the developer sold off the property.
A unit of Texas-based investor Behringer Harvard Holdings LLC last month sold the 390-unit Waterford Place apartment complex in Dublin for a reported $110 million, or about $282,000 per apartment, to an undisclosed institutional investor.
Behringer Harvard bought the complex from Shea Properties about two years ago for some $80 million.
Behringer Harvard also bought a local apartment complex from Shea in late 2009, paying $49 million for Irvine’s Calypso Apartments and Lofts.
There’s been no report of that 177-apartment complex—at Jamboree Road and Alton Parkway—being put up for sale.
Fuscoe Lease
Fuscoe Engineering, one of the county’s larger civil engineering firms, has renewed the lease for its Irvine headquarters.
The company recently extended its lease at 16795 Von Karman Ave., part of the Von Karman Corporate Center. The office park is owned by Arden Realty Inc. and is a few blocks from the District at Tustin Legacy shopping center.
The 10-year deal is for about 22,000 square feet, according to brokers with Huntington Beach’s Corporate Realty Advisors, which represented the tenant in the lease.
The lease’s value is estimated to be about $6.5 million, which works out to monthly rents of about $2.45 per square foot.
Greg Brown and David Dowd of Cushman & Wakefield Inc.’s Irvine office represented Arden. Corporate Realty Advisors’ Jeff Tabor and Dave Coe represented the tenant.
