COMMERCIAL
A much-hyped startup business headed up by Jim Jannard, billionaire founder of Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc., is expanding locally.
Lake Forest-based Red Digital Cinema Camera Co., a digital movie camera company that Jannard started in 2005, just bought a property next to its headquarters.
The company paid about $7.7 million, or $240 per square foot, for a 32,040-square-foot manufacturing building at 20291 Valencia Circle in Lake Forest. Built in 2001, the building includes 13,000 square feet of office space, 3,000 square feet of research and development space and 16,000 square feet of warehouse space.
Red Digital also occupies 21,000 square feet of space at its nearby headquarters.
The company isn’t talking, but the extra manufacturing space might be a sign that Jannard’s Red Digital is almost ready to start production for its highly anticipated digital cameras after some delays.
The high-resolution cameras, which will run $17,500 apiece, can be used to shoot movies and other productions.
“Ocean’s Eleven” and “Traffic” director Steven Soderbergh will be shooting an upcoming movie using the camera, according to Red Digital’s Web site.
Photography buff Jannard should be able to afford the new Lake Forest property. He sold Oakley late last year to Luxottica Group SPA of Italy for $2.1 billion, pocketing an estimated $1.3 billion in the deal.
Jeff Carr, from the Newport Beach office of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., represented the sellers, Gregory and Ellen Heinze.
Newmeyer Expands
Law firm Newmeyer & Dillion LLP, which counts a big real estate practice here, is expanding at its headquarters in Newport Beach.
The firm, which counts about 50 lawyers in Orange County, recently put the finishing touches on a 53,036-square-foot lease at 895 Dove St. The six-year lease includes an additional 10,000 square feet of expansion space.
Some of that extra space is coming from Newport Beach-based homebuilder John Laing Homes, which will be moving its own headquarters to an under-construction building a few blocks away at the Impac Center later this year.
The new space will house up to 77 attorneys. That could push Newmeyer & Dillion,No. 13 in the Business Journal’s most recent list of largest local law firms,closer to the top five once the planned hiring is completed.
The six-year lease is valued at more than $10 million.
Ralph Simmonds of Newport Beach-based Simmonds Realty Group Inc. represented Newmeyer & Dillion in the deal. Dave Peacock of Glenborough Realty Trust, along with Oliver Fleener and Greg May of Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Newport Beach office, represented the landlord.
More Retail Sales?
After a slowdown in 2007, there’s starting to be signs of increased sales in OC’s retail properties, according to the Irvine office of Faris Lee Investments.
This year, investors are looking to pay more for properties in infill locations, the company says.
The latest proof is a $5.5 million deal it just worked on in Santa Ana, for the Orange County Fast Food & Convenience Plaza.
The plaza, located at 700 to 750 E. Dyer Road, was sold by Irvine-based Sanderson J Ray Development to Buena Park-based Western Asset Management LLC. Dennis Vaccaro, director of advisory services at Faris Lee, represented the seller, while Sam Kim of Century 21 Sunny Hills represented the buyer.
The property, built on 2.8 acres, is fully leased, and includes a 76 Gas & Carwash, Jack in the Box and Wienerschnitzel. The center counts five buildings on three individually parceled ground leases.
The property sold at a capitalization rate of 5.1%.
The local market was tight in 2007, as “very few new retail projects were built and retail property owners were comfortable in their investments,” according to Vaccaro.
Title Company Moving
North American Title Co. is moving its local operations from Orange to Irvine.
The company signed a seven-year lease for 12,823 square feet of space at 2100 Main St. The deal is valued at about $3 million.
The company’s set to move to the WestBay Properties LLC-owned building in the next few months. It’s relocating from 505 S. Main St. in Orange.
North American, a unit of Miami-based Lennar Corp., counts about 70 employees for its local operations. That’s down about 25% from a year ago. The company ranked No. 7 on last year’s Business Journal list of largest local title insurers, working on about $1.5 billion worth of transactions in 2006.
Myron Galchutt and Jeff Foster, from the Irvine office of Newmark Knight Frank, represented the tenant in the lease.
