The first investment and redevelopment project of Newport Beach-based Stonewood Properties looks to be a winner.
Stonewood and money partner Broadreach Capital Partners LLC of Palo Alto,both led by former executives from Spieker Properties Inc.,teamed in 2004 to buy Tustin Commons, an empty 200,000-square-foot office complex, for $17 million.
They spent about $15 million to renovate the trio of two-story, 1960s-era buildings. A new facade was added to both buildings, which range from 51,000 to 93,000 square feet.
Two buildings were totally redone.
Finally, a big tenant was found: Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based aerospace electronics maker Rockwell Collins Inc. last summer signed a 10-year lease for the entire site, using tenant rep firm Cresa Partners LLC.
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Tustin Commons: home to local operation of Rockwell Collins |
Now the companies just sold Tustin Commons to New York-based Real Estate Capital Partners for $54.6 million. It was bought for American Fund OIK, a real estate investment adviser for German investors.
The end result: a nearly $20 million profit for Stonewood and Broadreach. More joint projects are possible, as are more Orange County deals, said David Simon, Broadreach managing director, who heads the company’s Southern California investment activity and asset management effort.
Simon previously worked for Kearny Real Estate Co. and Morgan Stanley.
Broadreach invests in the West through its $314 million real estate fund, BRCP Realty LPI. The company includes the former executive team of Spieker Properties, including Ned Spieker, its former chairman. Tustin Commons was the company’s first deal in Southern California.
Stonewood is led by Jim Wood, who used to run Spieker in OC.
The company has invested in four office and industrial projects in OC and Los Angeles the past two years, Wood said.
Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust bought Menlo Park-based Spieker in 2001.
The 15-acre Tustin Commons site is west of the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway near Jamboree Road. John Collins of Voit Commercial Brokerage LP and Kevin Crummy, Christopher Hoffman and Jeff Weber of Eastdil Realty Co. represented Broadreach and Stonewood. Eastdil also represented the buyer.
Birtcher Anderson Adds Industrial
A 12-building, 251,219-square-foot industrial portfolio in Southern California is changing hands between two OC real estate companies.
Birtcher Anderson Realty LLC of San Juan Capistrano is buying the portfolio from Newport Beach-based ZMI Real Estate Inc., for $29 million.
The portfolio is spread outside the county. Properties include Carson Industrial Center in Carson, Civic Commerce Center in Irwindale and Simpson Business Park in Escondido. The buildings are nearly full and are geared toward smaller tenants.
The move was made to diversify Birtcher Anderson’s portfolio, according to Bob Anderson, chief executive.
The company typically invests in office buildings with “large tenant leasing challenges,” he said. Anderson and Arthur Birtcher founded Birtcher Anderson Realty in 2004.
In 2005, Birtcher Anderson bought $156 million of Southern California and Arizona properties, totaling 1.1 million square feet. Office buildings were 75% of those deals, with industrial making up the rest.
Knightsbridge Realty Capital of Newport Beach acted as the mortgage broker in the latest deal.
ULI Goes Full Time
The local chapter of the Urban Land Institute counts close to 1,100 real estate executives as members. Until now, the OC office of the nonprofit education and research institute has been run as an all-volunteer entity.
Now it has brought on Phyllis Alzamora as executive director for the OC District Council of ULI.
Alzamora was hired after a yearlong search. She brings 24 years of experience in communications, government affairs and community relations, and most recently managed the marketing and recruiting departments for the Costa Mesa office of law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP.
The focus for Alzamora is upping membership and sponsorship. Laguna Hills-based ULI plans to work with local communities in their development planning processes, while also helping to address pressing issues such as housing affordability, urban-infill development and transportation needs, she said.
A new apartment investment trust with ties to Santa Ana-based Triple Net Properties LLC is in the works with hopes of raising up to $1 billion from investors.
NNN Apartment REIT, also in Santa Ana, filed plans this month to offer 200,000 to 105 million shares in a blind pool offering. If the deal caps out at $10 per share, the REIT could raise as much as $1 billion. If the 200,000-share minimum isn’t sold in the next two years, the offering would be scratched.
To date, the REIT doesn’t own anything. Documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicate NNN Apartment plans to go after apartments in select U.S. markets. The REIT’s adviser is a unit of Triple Net.
Louis J. Rogers, NNN Apartment REIT president and chairman, has served as president of Triple Net since 2004. Other execs come from Cornerstone Realty Income Trust, another real estate investment trust.
