A real estate investor and developer that focuses on the biomedical sector just made a big local buy.
Irvine’s BioRealty Inc. snapped up an 86,207-square-foot medical office in San Clemente’s Talega masterplanned community.
The company, which until recently operated under the BioProperties Inc. name, spent $23.3 million for the medical office.
The building serves as a regional facility for Quest Diagnostics Inc., the country’s largest provider of medical testing services. It includes 73,000 square feet of lab, manufacturing and office space, along with 13,000 square feet of warehouse space.
Quest Diagnostics is halfway through a 10-year lease at the two-story office, which it uses to make test kits and reagents.
The site also includes an adjacent 1.4-acre land parcel that can accommodate another 33,000 square feet of development, according to BioRealty founder Stan Wendzel.
Wendzel, a San Clemente resident, previously oversaw development projects at Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises, as well as for Newport Beach’s Koll Co.
“There aren’t too many opportunities” to make deals of this type in land-constrained Orange County, Wendzel said. “I’m excited to be able to do something in my own backyard.”
Earlier this year, the company announced its first major deal, developing a $15 million plant in Baltimore for cancer drug maker Cel-Sci Corp.
BioRealty bought the San Clemente building in a venture with American Realty Advisors of Glendale.
The property, at 1311 Calle Batido, sold for $270 per square foot and at a 6.5% capitalization rate,the rate of return in the first year of ownership.
Makena Properties Corp. of Mission Viejo was the seller. Makena was represented by Gary Stache, Darla Longo, Pat Scruggs, Barbara Emmons, Patrick Toomey and Anthony DeLorenzo from CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s Newport Beach office.
$10.5M Gym Sale
A Santa Ana gym built in 2004 sold for $10.5 million, or $300 per square foot.
Saveh LLC of Burbank bought the 35,000-square-foot building near the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway at 1501 N. Tustin Ave. LA Fitness has a long-term lease at the gym, which includes a swimming pool, basketball court and other amenities.
Mehran Foroughi of Sperry Van Ness in Irvine represented the seller, San Francisco-based Eden Group LLC. Sam S. Manoukian of Re/Max represented the buyer. The buyer’s down payment was 60%, according to Foroughi.
Looks like Orange County’s luxury coastal housing market isn’t immune to the slowdown affecting the rest of the county, according to a recent study detailing coastal sales reports.
Hom Real Estate Group, a luxury home brokerage based in Newport Beach, just came out with a detailed neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis of the priciest 2006 sales in Laguna Beach and its hometown. It’s a fascinating read.
Hom’s findings mirror much of what was seen in the county as a whole: A decrease in sales volumes in 2006, but an increase in average sales prices for the ritziest homes in the county.
In Laguna Beach, the top 10% of sales,28 homes,were listed at an average price of $9.1 million, and sold at about 90% of their list price in 2006. Just a year earlier, the top 10% of sales,36 homes,were listed at a lower average price, $6.2 million, but sold at a higher percentage of that list price, 94%.
In Newport Beach, the top 10% of sales,55 homes,were listed at an average price of $7 million, and sold at about 93% of their list price in 2006. In 2005, the top 10% of sales,85 homes,were again listed at a lower average price, $5.7 million, but sold at a higher percentage of that list price, 95%.
The biggest gap between expectations and reality for the ultra-luxury homes last year was seen at Newport Coast’s Pelican Hill.
A home on Masters Circle near Pelican Hill Golf Club was listed for $25 million, but sold for $19.5 million after being on the market for 217 days,a typical time frame for homes in Newport Beach costing more than $10 million.
In Laguna Beach’s Victoria Beach, a home on Victoria Drive was listed for $15.9 million, but sold for $12.5 million, according to Hom’s report,the largest gap seen in Laguna Beach. On the positive side for the seller, the home was only on the market for 21 days, about a third of the time other Laguna Beach $10 million-plus homes typically were on the market.
While Hom is not anticipating a year of “dizzying property value escalations,” initial activity indicates 2007 has the necessary attributes for a more active and balanced marketplace, said Rob Giem, the brokerage’s managing director.
