A Lake Forest industrial building is the first Orange County buy for Newport Beach-based real estate developer and investor Bixby Land Co. under new Chief Executive William Halford.
The buy was one of three building deals totaling $31 million. The company now owns more than 50 properties.
The latest buys included a 61,622-square-foot in-dustrial building in Lake Forest that’s home to General Monitors Inc., a maker of instruments to detect hazardous flames, gases and vapors. General Monitors sold the building and now leases it back.
The company signed a 10-year lease for the building. Michael Lawrence of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co.’s Newport Beach office brokered the deal.
The other two buys included a 106,139-square-foot industrial building in Carlsbad leased to Seltzer Chemicals Inc. and Dunn-Edwards Corp., and a 48,000-square-foot industrial building in San Diego.
“The Orange County and San Diego industrial markets have significant leasing activity, which we believe will continue to remain strong and demonstrate upside potential,” said Halford, the former head of The Irvine Company’s office division, who joined Bixby last April.
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Sares-Regis’ Rialto Commerce Center: Galleria added 383,000 square feet |
The company also recently added Buchanan Street Partners Chief Executive Robert Brunswick to its nine-person board.
Buchanan Street, the Newport Beach-based real estate investment bank, worked with Bixby on one deal in the past year, a $70 million buy of a five-building campus in Silicon Valley, now known as Bixby Technology Center.
The companies expect to work on more deals together.
Galleria Adds Building
You can add another industrial building to the growing portfolio of Placentia-based Galleria Inc., an importer of lawn, garden and other home products.
In August, we reported that Galleria paid close to $59 million for a 715,000-square-foot warehouse in Rialto. The building was part of Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group Inc.’s Rialto Commerce Center, an 89-acre, 1.7 million-square-foot distribution center under development.
At the time, I wrote that Galleria was considering buying another building in the Rialto area, in the 200,000-square-foot range. That turns out to have been a bit off base.
Galleria actually went bigger and bought a 383,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution building,also at the Rialto Commerce Center,for $22.5 million.
The Sares-Regis project now is sold out, with the four buildings there selling for a total of $115.7 million.
A private investor bought the last building at the site. That 127,990-square-foot building sold for $11 million.
Business users bought three of the four buildings at the center, developed by Sares-Regis with RREEF Funds LLC.
“That shows you the strength of the user market. That’s also why we’re on the hunt for more land for similar projects not just in Rialto but anywhere in the Inland Empire,” said Sares-Regis Vice President Larry Lukanish.
Galleria doesn’t plan to move its headquarters to either of the newly acquired buildings, even with a recent sale and leaseback with Sares-Regis for an Anaheim warehouse, brokers said.
Hot Tub Lease
Balboa Instruments Inc., the Tustin-based designer and manufacturer of remote control units for hot tubs, just renewed its lease for its headquarters and main manufacturing and distribution center.
The company signed a seven-year lease renewal for its 120,000-square-foot research and development facility at 1382 Bell Ave., next to the former Tustin Marine base along Red Hill Avenue. The deal, struck late last year, was valued at $8.9 million, an 11% increase from its last lease there.
Balboa Instruments relocated to the Bell Avenue location from Costa Mesa in 2000, paying $8 million for its first seven years at the property. The company had been housed in 90,000 square feet in five buildings prior to consolidating in Tustin.
Founded in 1979, Balboa Instruments makes remote control and electronic control systems for hot tubs, spas, whirlpool baths and pools.
John Rothwell, vice president with GVA Daum’s Newport Beach office, represented Balboa Instruments in the lease. Michael Hartel, senior vice president at the Irvine-based office of Colliers International, represented landlord C2H2 Ltd. of Beverly Hills.
The deal is the largest research and development lease in the greater Irvine Business Complex in 2006, according to Rothwell.
Scottsdale-based Meritage Homes Corp. named Alan Toffoli as the president of its Southern California division based in Irvine.
Toffoli has 15 years in homebuilding. He most recently worked for Shea Homes, part of Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co., last serving as senior vice president of land acquisition and urban development.
In Southern California, Meritage Homes is developing in Temecula, Moreno Valley, San Jacinto, Rancho Cucamonga and Chino Hills, among other areas.
