Atlas Brokers Escondido Deal; O’Donnell/Atkins Has Busy First Quarter
This is my last column at the Business Journal. My stay here was too short , six days shy of 10 months. The real estate reporter I replaced, Matt Padilla, was here only 10 months.
Churning real estate is popular in this red-hot market. But my editor assures one and all that he is not trying to flip real estate writers, too.
Fact is, there’s enough taking place in this market to keep a reporter busy and interested for a long time. I know my interest in local real estate happenings will continue. I won’t be too far away, working in Silicon Valley covering technology for Investor’s Business Daily.
Nidal Ibrahim, who can’t seem to get enough of the OCBJ, has graciously agreed to help on an interim basis. It is the third OCBJ gig for Nidal, who is now a marketing consultant and freelance writer. Editor Rick Reiff is talking to candidates interested in taking over the beat permanently.
Before leaving, though, I’d like to thank everyone here for helping me track such an active market. It has been quite an experience to work as a real estate reporter in Orange County while so much development is taking place. Hopefully, I did a halfway decent job of keeping up with all that was going on.
COMMERCIAL
A Few Short Takes
A & J; Mutual LLC, a family owned firm based in Poway, has purchased the 96-room Comfort Inn in Escondido for $4.15 million from a subsidiary of San Diego-based Pacifica Host Hotels. Vache Darakdjian of Atlas Hospitality Group in Costa Mesa brokered the deal Jim Oliver of Lee & Associates in Orange reports that OREQ Inc. is consolidating several smaller local offices into 85,390 square feet at a new corporate headquarters in Remington Corporate Center in Temecula. The manufacturer of swimming pools bought the building for $4.3 million from Har-Bro Inc. of Signal Hill Dave Ryan of Collins Commercial in Newport Beach says AVG Partners of Beverly Hills has acquired a 166,540-square-foot industrial building in Anaheim for $4.5 million from a family trust. The facility, at 1256 N. Magnolia Ave., has a long-term lease in place with an existing tenant John Griffin of Voit Commercial tells us that American Sporting Goods Inc. has leased a 68,865-square-foot warehouse in Tustin. The seven-year, $2.8 million deal means the sporting-goods manufacturer will do most of its distribution work from the facility at 1200 Valencia.
RESIDENTIAL
If you’re unsure of just how hot land is for homebuilding in the area, just ask the folks at O’Donnell/Atkins Co. in Costa Mesa.
In a span of six days, the firm recently brokered six deals totaling around $60 million.
“The fourth quarter of 1999 cooled down, but the real estate market appears to be back with a vengeance based on the activity we are seeing,” said Craig Atkins, a principal of the company.
The deals included:
- Kaufman & Broad purchased 76 lots from SunCal as part of the Serrano Heights project in Orange.
- In Stockton, Kaufman & Broad purchased 99 lots from Anaheim-based SunCal.
- Officials in Irvine with Pulte Homes worked out a deal for 130 lots in LA County’s Diamond Bar development.
- Ryland Homes acquired 42 lots from the South Hills Partnership in West Covina.
- Steven Walker Homes took 56 lots in Riverside as part of the Orangecrest Hills development. The seller is Anaheim-based Communities Southwest.
- Orange-based Brandywine Development purchased 31 lots from Eikel and Company in San Diego County.
