Arden Engineering Inc., an Orange-based aerospace parts maker, is expanding operations to Anaheim? Platinum Triangle after signing one of the largest leases the county? industrial market? seen in some time.
The privately owned company, which makes components for commercial and military aircrafts, struck a lease for 100,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space at 1540 Page Court in the industrial area around Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
Arden plans to move this summer.
Terms of the five-year deal weren? disclosed. The property, which borders Cerritos Avenue, had been listed for lease at monthly rents of about 45 cents per square foot.
It? the largest expansion-related lease seen in North County in almost two years, according to Louis Tomaselli, a broker with the Orange office of Voit Commercial Brokerage LP.
Tomaselli and Voit? Mitch Zehner represented Arden Engineering in the deal.
Those two, along with Voit? Seth Davenport and Clyde Stauff of Colliers International, also represented the landlord, DSA Anaheim.
The 197,766-square-foot Anaheim building had been the longtime home of window-coverings retailer 3 Day Blinds Inc., which filed for bankruptcy last October.
Following a court-approved reorganization, 3 Day Blinds plans to move its headquarters to another space in the Irvine Spectrum, according to Davenport. That deal has yet to be finalized.
Voit and Colliers International are marketing the remaining 97,000 square feet of the building for DSA Anaheim, which has owned the building for more than 20 years.
The building? on the edge of the area known as the Platinum Triangle, which has received a lot of attention in recent years as the city and developers targeted it for a massive build up of homes, offices and retail.
Arden? local operations already total nearly 180,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in a few locations across the county. The company doesn? plan to close any existing sites and isn? relocating its headquarters, brokers said. It? unknown if the company plans to hire more workers as part of the expansion.
Arden, formed in 1979, makes aircraft frames, bulkheads, beams, fittings, struts, panels, bomb racks and other plane parts.
Its products are used in jets, helicopters and space vehicles, according to the company? Web site.
Arden? products are split between commercial and military aircrafts, according to Arden marketing materials.
The deal is welcome news for the county? industrial market, which hasn? seen many area manufacturers expand as of late.
Most large leases signed in recent months?uch as Anaheim-based Targus Group International Inc.? 200,646-square-foot deal for its headquarters in January?ave been extensions for existing tenants.
Prior to Arden, there hadn? been a new industrial lease in North County larger than 100,000 square feet since late 2007, according to Tomaselli, even though Anaheim is the largest industrial market in Orange County.
Anaheim? industrial base totals about 45.3 million square feet and counts 1,752 buildings.
The city? industrial market counts an availability rate of about 11.8%, slightly higher than the county average of 10.4%, according to the latest Voit data. Larger buildings?00,000 to 150,000 square feet?re faring better with a 10.1% availability rate, compared to a nearly 20% rate for buildings 50,000 square feet larger than that.
The average monthly asking lease rate in Anaheim averages about 62 cents per square foot, compared to 65 cents per square foot for the county at large.
Along with the Arden lease, there have been some additional signs of activity in OC? otherwise sluggish industrial market in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, Anaheim-based North-gate Gonzalez Market, OC? largest Hispanic grocer, announced it would be moving and expanding to a 375,000-square-foot headquarters and warehouse being built on a 21-acre Magnolia Avenue site that Delphi Automotive Systems LLC previously used as a battery plant. That more won? be taking place until next year.
Brokers with Daum Commercial Real Estate, which represented Northgate Gonzales in the deal, said the 15-year lease is valued at $69 million.
On the investment side of the OC? industrial market, deals are beginning to show some signs of activity, after several slow months.
Hartford, Conn.-based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC, in a venture with Irvine developer Birtcher Development and Investment Co., bought the former Delphi land for $20 million out of bankruptcy court. Colliers International represented both the buyers and sellers in the land sale.
In Santa Ana, an affiliate of New York-based KTR Capital Partners bought the 296,000-square-foot Santa Ana Distribution Center on South Standard Avenue from Prudential Real Estate Investors earlier this month.
The property is occupied primarily by Behr Process Corp., a manufacturer of paints, stains and varnishes that? part of Michigan? Masco Corp.
Terms of the Santa Ana deal were not disclosed. The property had been listed for $25.5 million, or about $86 per square foot, according to brokers with the Irvine office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., who represented Prudential in the sale.
At that price, it would be the largest investment sale of an industrial property so far this year. Cushman? Jeffrey Cole, Ed Hernandez, Jeff Chiate and Rick Ellison worked on the deal.
