Lake Forest’s Pacific Corporate Park Sells for $23.6M
Taisei Works Double Time on Santa Monica Hotel; Pardee Homes Buys Fullerton Lots
REAL ESTATE
by Daniel D. Williams
COMMERCIAL
Development of new office space is at a near halt. But a lot of what’s already on the ground is in play.
Lower real estate prices have spurred a flurry of office sales in recent months. One of the latest: Newport Beach-based Davis Part-ners/Transworld Properties Inc. sold the 167,585-square-foot Pacific Corporate Park in Lake Forest for $23.6 million to Triple Net Properties LLC.
Built in phases, Pacific Corporate Park is part of the Pacific Commercentre, a 286-acre masterplanned business park. The developers completed the six two-story buildings in 1999. Designed in a campus-style setting, the buildings making up Pacific Corporate Park range from 20,564 square feet to 36,675 square feet.
A. Martin Morgenstern, Rick Hamilton, Jon E. Nesbitt & John Gallivan of the Irvine office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. represented the seller. Triple Net Properties represented itself and has tapped Gallivan, Mark McAdams and Scott Garmon of Cushman & Wakefield to lease the remaining vacant space at the park, which is about 78% leased.
Tenants include Orange County Register, Israel’s Valor Computerized Systems Inc. and Computer Education Institute Inc., which has its headquarters at the site.
Taisei Remodels Hotel
Cypress-based Taisei Construction Corp., part of Japan’s Taisei Corp., recently renovated the eight-story Pacific Shore Hotel into the new Viceroy Hotel, a 166-room boutique hotel in Santa Monica. Los Angeles-based The KOR Group is heading up the project.
In a bid to finish by summer, Taisei said it had up to 170 workers per day at the site, where 100 workers would be more typical. The Viceroy is on the corner of Pico Boulevard and Ocean Avenue. The Viceroy, a four-star hotel, is set to reopen in June.
In another news item, Taisei named Thomas Tschudin vice president of business development manager for the Cypress-based unit, which also has offices in San Jose, Chicago and Honolulu.
Tschudin is set to handle development in medical, suburban office and institutional education projects. He also is set to oversee new commercial, hospitality, industrial and technology facilities, as well as reuses and tenant improvements.
RESIDENTIAL
Los Angles-based Pardee Homes bought 81 Fullerton residential lots of 6,000 square feet or more.
“Real estate is still strong despite earlier projections regarding potential weakness in the homebuilding industry,” said Craig Atkins, a principle of the O’Donnell/Atkins Co., which brokered the lot sales for Pardee and the undisclosed seller.
Atkins, along with Mackey O’Donnell and Mike Hunter, worked on the deal.
Pardee Homes has set up its OC division in Newport Beach. Community Development Director Tim McSunas heads up the office.
Besides Fullerton, Pardee is building homes at Forster Highlands in San Clemente. Pardee also is set to build homes in Irvine’s Turtle Ridge. The three projects are expected to include more than 260 detached houses.
Beyond OC
Homebuilders continue to see strong demand outside OC.
The Orange office of Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA Inc. said it plans to add 200 more houses to the Rancho Vista masterplanned community in West Palmdale. Plans call for Beazer to release the first phase of homes in 2003.
The Orange County/Inland Empire unit of D.R. Horton Inc.’s Western Pacific recently unveiled new model homes for masterplanned communities of The Orchard in Riverside County and Renaissance Park in Moreno Valley.
According to Western officials, more than 2,000 prospective homebuyers turned out for openings of the two communities.
The Orchard’s homes,within the Eastvale area of Riverside County,range from 1,846 to 3,315 square feet. Prices start in the low $200,000s. Renaissance Park includes three neighborhoods and 10 floor plans ranging from 1,435 to 2,824 square feet. Prices start in the mid-$150,000s. Renaissance Park is set to include more than eight acres of public parks, a community center and an elementary school.
Bits and Pieces:
Anaheim-based CB Richard Ellis Retail Services, a division of CB Richard Ellis Services Inc., has been tapped by Maytag Corp. to seek new retail locations in OC for the appliance maker. CB Senior Vice President Jeff Moore and his Focus Retail Group landed the assignment Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group promoted three executives in its multifamily development unit and its Regis Homes affiliate. The company named Mike Winter vice president of development and Ron Dyer vice president of construction. Ron Groeneveld takes over as vice president and senior project manager of Regis Homes Irvine-based Snyder Langston completed a 204,000-square-foot distribution and warehouse building in the City of Industry for San Jose-based Marquez Brothers International, a Mexican food maker and distributor. The facility is located on 9.7 acres.
