The Newport Beach office building that currently holds the headquarters of Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. is undergoing some changes.
Far West Industries Inc., a Santa Ana-based homebuilder that does work in the Inland Empire, just bought 1401 Dove St. KBS Realty Advisors LLC of Newport Beach had owned the six-story, 74,405-square-foot office building.
The sales price was $26.4 million, or about $354 per square foot. Jeffrey Cole, Rick Putnam and Ed Hernandez of Trammell Crow Co.’s Southern California Capital Markets Group represented both parties.
It’s the second example in recent months of a housing developer turning attention to the local office market.
In July, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based West Millennium Homes bought 4000 Metropolitan Drive, a 182,935-square-foot office building near The Block at Orange, for $38 million.
Far West faces some decisions with the Dove Street building, which was built in 1974 and renovated in 2001.
Impac, a real estate investment trust that invests in mortgages, is moving down the street to its new campus on Jamboree Road in Irvine, starting next month. That will leave the Dove Street building without a tenant. No leases have been announced as of yet.
Impac’s original lease at 1401 Dove had run out in May. The company had planned to move in June. But delays with the new headquarters resulted in a lease extension that lasts into next year, brokers said. That gives the new owner some time to figure out how it will lease up the space.
Another decision for Far West: The deal includes the right to build another two-story, 26,122-square-foot office building on a 3.8-acre parcel next to the existing six-story building.
Impac’s new seven-story headquarters, known as the Impac Center, holds 200,000 square feet. The company is consolidating operations from several other Orange County sites.
The company has a 10-year lease for the property, with an option for another 10 years. It will be paying rent of $2.65 per square foot for the first 30 months of the lease, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Austin-OC Connection
It must be the barbecue.
Local companies have made a number of office buys recently in Austin, Texas, where vacancy rates stand at 15%, the lowest level in five years.
In the most recent deal, two OC companies traded $46.8 million worth of space there.
Chase Merritt Investments LLC of Newport Beach bought a five-building complex in Austin known as Amber Oaks V. The buildings sold for about $166 per square foot. G REIT Inc., part of Santa Ana-based Triple Net Properties LLC, was the seller.
The buildings total 282,000 square feet and are part of a larger eight-building complex in Northwest Austin. The buildings are 93% full. Tenants include URS Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc.
It’s the first Austin deal for Chase Merritt, which was formed about a year ago and now counts a portfolio valued at $275 million. The company is in the market to acquire more than $500 million in real estate, according to its Web site.
Chase Merritt, led by Chief Executive Chad Horning, is an outgrowth of Newport Federal, a 35-year-old real estate investor in Newport Beach.
Earlier this month, G REIT’s directors approved a distribution of $171 million, or $3.90 per share of common stock, to its stockholders. The liquidation was from the net proceeds of the Austin sale, along with towers sold in San Diego and San Francisco.
G REIT bought the Amber Oaks V portfolio in 2004 for $35.5 million.
Triple Net isn’t leaving the Austin market. It bought a 118,600-square-foot, 11-story building there in August for an undisclosed price. Last quarter it paid $68 million for another building there,a 390,000-square-foot, 21-story tower.
Core Realty in Milwaukee
Newport Beach’s Core Realty Holdings LLC has made an $80.5 million office and retail purchase near Milwaukee. It’s one of the larger real estate deals in the area in several years, according to local reports.
Core Realty, led by local real estate investor and coin dealer John Saunders, bought the Brookfield Lakes Corporate Center, which is made up of 11 office buildings and one retail building totaling 506,719 square feet. The site is about 10 miles from downtown Milwaukee.
The sale also includes about 41 acres of conservancy land in the business park.
The seller was locally based Hammes Co., which will continue to manage and lease the properties, which were built in the 1980s.
The buildings sold are 92% leased to 73 tenants.
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