COMMERCIAL
Newport Beach-based real estate investment and development firm CT Realty Corp. recently added 245,260 square feet of office space to its portfolio with the purchase of five office buildings for $24.5 million. The buildings, four of which are in Santa Ana, were bought from Newport Federal.
In Santa Ana, CT Realty acquired the Park Center complex of buildings, for which it paid $13 million. Included in the campus are:
n A two-story, 17,486-square-foot building at 550 N. Parkcenter Dr.
n A three-story, 33,960-square-foot property at 540 N. Golden Circle Dr.
n A three-story, 34,085-square-foot building at 2000 E. Fourth St., and
n A two-story 28,864-square-foot property at 2101 E. Fourth St.
The other recently acquired building is in Sacramento.
CT Realty said it plans to upgrade all five properties, including new exterior paint and landscaping, upgraded heating/air conditioning systems and roofs as well as new restroom facilities, lighting and signage.
Nationals Want Piece of OC Pie
Looks like the big boys are taking notice.
All the heavy construction in booming Orange County is grabbing the attention of some of the bigger construction firms in the country.
Martin-Harris Construction, one of the nation’s biggest construction firms, has set up its first California regional office in Irvine. The Las Vegas-based firm becomes the second large construction company to set up shop in Irvine in the past two months. Last month, Boston-based Suffolk Construction Co. opened offices in the Irvine Spectrum.
Martin-Harris’ local operations currently consist of five employees, but the firm expects that to grow to about 15 in the next year as it bids for contracts, said Gary Siroky, regional vice president with Martin-Harris. Focusing primarily on industrial, office and retail, Martin-Harris Construction already is bidding on contracts, he said.
The company has had previous operations in Southern California, most recently operating through a subsidiary in building General Nutrition Center stores and some retrofit work in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake.
Siroky said other builders’ and subcontractors’ stories about opportunities locally spurred the company to open an office.
“Over the last seven to eight years we’ve done a lot of work with (Southern California) developers, architects and subcontractors when things weren’t going well over here,” Siroky said. “Through our dealings with them, we were convinced this was the area (for growth). It almost mirrored what we were doing in Las Vegas.”
RESIDENTIAL
The O’Donnell/Atkins Co., mostly known for its land brokerage operations, is expanding its venture capital and debt placement division.
The Costa Mesa-based firm’s most recent foray into that side of the business was on behalf of Vintage Senior Housing, which used $2 million in equity financing placed by O’Donnell/Atkins to purchase the 166-unit Newport Villa and Newport Villa West senior housing community in Newport Beach.
Real estate investment firm Avalon at Newport paid $14 million to sellers David Slavik Trust and Philip Heckendon for the two buildings located at 393 Hospital Road.
“It’s a natural progression when you do land deals,” said Craig Atkins, a principal with O’Donnell/Atkins. “The key component is money and so many of our deals hinge on the financing side that we realized we needed to better control that side of it. Identifying the source of funds and understanding how those markets work enabled us to be better land brokers.”
Since the debt and venture division was launched last year, O’Donnell/Atkins has placed roughly $90 million. Among their clients has been Lennar Corp., Rielly Homes and Pinnacle Communities, which used funding from Korean conglomerate Bosung to acquire a Carlsbad project. O’Donnell/Atkins also is looking to increase its activity on the commercial side of the business, where it helps fund $3 million to $15 million retail projects.
As with the land brokerage business, O’Donnell/Atkins collects a 3% commission for its services, Atkins said. The funding sources used so far have included Wall Street, offshore investors such as Bosung and domestic private investors.
