Saywitz Brokers Fullerton, Corona Deals; Highpointe Buys Golf Lots
COMMERCIAL
Laguna Niguel-based Birtcher Real Estate Group, which has been negotiating to sell $125 million of its local assets since last year, has decided to take the properties off the market.
Instead, the company will hold onto the mix of mainly local industrial and office buildings for the time being.
“We were talking to a potential buyer who wanted most of it, but that buyer wanted a discount for space that was still unleased,” said Bob Anderson, a Birtcher Real Estate Group co-chairman. “So we’ve pulled the properties off the market and are going to do the leasing ourselves.”
Less than 80,000 square feet of the 600,000-square-foot portfolio is vacant, according to Anderson. And most of that space, he added, is clustered in a few South County industrial buildings.
“We plan to be ready to put them back on the market later this year,” said Anderson. “We should have the rest of the space leased up by then.”
Managers at the privately held development, investment and management group are churning the properties to raise cash and form new partnership deals. The idea, they say, is to leverage their way into a larger set of properties worth four to five times the current portfolio.
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But that’s not the only deal Birtcher is involved in this year.
The company has purchased about 100,000 square feet of industrial space in two buildings in San Diego.
Encad Inc., a maker of high-end printers, was the previous owner of the property. The high-tech firm signed a long-term lease for the entire space, which will continue to be Encad’s headquarters.
“They’re a good, strong tenant,” said Birtcher’s Anderson. “But we would’ve liked to own the property regardless of whether they were the tenant.”
Birtcher’s equity partner in the deal was South Charles Investment Co. of Baltimore, a subsidiary of NationsBank. The firm has an office in Irvine.
Combined with buildings it purchased last year from The Shidler Group and other properties being managed for third parties, Birtcher now has some 750,000 square feet under ownership or management in its San Diego portfolio.
Dallas-based USF Processors, a division of U.S. Freightways Corp., has signed a $2.6 million lease to take 84,075 square feet in Fullerton.
The five-year deal means the 201,000-square-foot building at 701 S. Sally Place is fully occupied almost nine months after it was completed.
The O’Donnell Group of Newport Beach developed and owns the property.
Rob Socci and Brian Corrigan of Voit Commercial Brokerage represented O’Donnell.
USF needed more space, since demand is increasing for its redistribution and warehousing food services operation.
“That’s a fancy way of saying they pick up and store damaged goods for grocery stores,” said Barry Saywitz, whose Newport Beach-based The Saywitz Co. represented USF in the lease negotiations.
USF currently has smaller distribution facilities it’s leasing in La Habra and Brea.
“They’re consolidating into a new facility in Fullerton,” said Saywitz.
Kraft Foods will move into the 18,000 square feet USF is vacating in Brea, to expand its distribution and warehouse capacity in the area, he added.
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The Saywitz Co. is busy on other fronts, too.
Last week, it was wrapping up a $7.3 million deal for Programmed Composites Inc. to move from Anaheim into new headquarters at 250 Klug Circle in Corona.
With about 85 employees now, the satellite manufacturer will move into a new building with almost twice the space of its current facilities.
The new 100,000-square-foot building is owned by Rexco Development of Corona.
PCI signed a 10-year lease for the manufacturing and distribution center. Barry Saywitz, who represented PCI in negotiations, says the company plans to expand into the added space.
Just a reminder: A collection of large real estate trade groups are putting on a special conference beginning today at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine.
The so-called I.con event, which will run through Wednesday, is intended as an in-depth look at industrial markets.
Sponsoring the series of conferences and workshops are NAIOP, the IDRC Foundation and SIOR.
Members of any the three sponsoring groups will be charged $445 apiece while non-members will be asked to pay $545 each to register. For more information, contact NAIOP at (703) 904-7100.
RESIDENTIAL
Tustin-based Highpointe Communities has acquired the remaining undeveloped land surrounding the 27-hole Moreno Valley Ranch Golf Course in the Inland Empire.
The property consists of 275 acres and is entitled for more than 1,100 lots with golf course frontage and two commercial development projects.
Tom Doyle of Irvine-based Whittlesey Doyle Inc., who brokered the deal, said that Highpointe already is talking to a developer about converting some 500 lots in the area into an active-seniors community. If that deal goes through as expected, work on the new project could begin by May.
