A & J; Manufacturing Moving to Tustin; Morgan Skendarian Keeping Busy
COMMERCIAL
With the recent revamping of the Shops at Mission Viejo, surrounding real estate values are bound to go up.
WOHL Investments of Irvine is planning to take advantage of that and the surge in customers it will bring by investing in a strip mall behind the Shops at Mission Viejo.
“It’s a neighborhood mall with about 9,000 square feet of vacancy,” said Preston Setrow, vice president of CB Richard Ellis in Newport Beach, who brokered the deal. “But with the reopening of the Shops at Mission Viejo, that space will fill fairly quickly.”
WOHL Investments purchased the mall, known as College Center, at 28171 Marguerite Parkway for $6.5 million. The seller was Hanford Hotels.
“The mall used to have a Sizzler restaurant, but it’s being made into a Denny’s restaurant,” said Setrow.
The mall has a total of 54,867 square feet and was built in 1981.
“It’s in real good shape and there are no anchor tenants–just a lot of small shops,” said Setrow. “Hanford is moving out of commercial and office product and concentrating on hotels. So they decided to sell it.”
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Pacific Corporate Plaza in Aliso Viejo appears to be filling up quickly.
Since completion of the three-building office park in June, says Lee & Associates senior vice president David Whitney in Newport Beach, half of the space has been filled.
“And we’re in final negotiations that will bring us over 90% leased,” he said.
The latest deals include the signing of Gallagher Bassett Services, a New York-based insurance company, to a 10-year lease valued at $4.5 million.
Previously working from the Landmark Lakehills complex in Laguna Hills, Gallagher Bassett will be taking 17,000 square feet at Pacific Corporate Plaza along Aliso Creek Road.
Jim Bannan and John Harty of Trammell Crow represented Gallagher Bassett in the transaction.
Whitney said that a healthcare company has also reached an agreement to lease 20,000 square feet in the plaza. But he declined to disclose the company’s name until final details are worked out in the deal, which is expected to be for five years and cost around $2.5 million.
Bill Thomas, owner of Commercial Properties, says his firm has brokered more than $10 million in sales and lease transactions in the past 10 months.
The Newport Beach-based broker, who started his one-man shop about three years ago, has just closed two more deals.
In the first one, Commercial Properties has been involved in the sale of a 15,306-square-foot building at 17406 Mount Cliffwood Circle in Fountain Valley. The two-story flex structure was bought by Coast Label Co. for $1.22 million.
The company will use the new office and light-manufacturing facility to make pressure-sensitive labels. Coast Label had been leasing about 8,000 square feet in Newport Beach.
In the second deal, Budnik Wheels purchased a 35,020-square-foot flex industrial building at 15251 Pipeline Lane in Huntington Beach. The two-story facility, which is mainly designed for light manufacturing operations, sold for $2.52 million.
The previous owner was SCIF HB 1 LLC, a limited partnership formed by the Magellan Group of Los Angeles.
Budnik, which makes and designs wheels for cars and trucks, used to lease space in Huntington Beach. The purchase represents almost a doubling in their space, according to Thomas.
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After 15 years of making specialty products for the military in Brea, A & J; Manufacturing is moving to Tustin.
The privately held family-run firm is moving to a building owned by Kilroy Realty at 14831 Franklin Ave. A & J; will be paying about $1.6 million for a six-year lease at the 36,256-square-foot building.
“This is a consolidation for us,” said Gary Woodward, president of A & J Manufacturing. “We’ll be increasing our space by about 20% to accommodate future growth.”
The company currently is leasing about 5,000 square feet in another Brea location for its administrative operations. The new building will serve as both A & J;’s manufacturing as well as office headquarters.
A & J; makes electronic enclosures used mainly by the Navy to hold radar and electronic equipment.
“They’re typically about 6-foot-tall by 3-foot-deep enclosures for all of the electronics as well as missile control systems,” said Woodward. “They’re like cabinets that house electronics, built to the military’s specifications.”
He added that the company employs about 40 people and doesn’t expect to be adding more workers at the new location.
Steve Schloemer, senior vice president of the Seeley Co. in Anaheim, represented both A & J; and Kilroy.
RESIDENTIAL
Ken Morgan and Jay Skenderian decided to leave their jobs with large brokerage firms four years ago to start their own company.
Concentrating on apartment transactions, their Newport Beach-based Morgan Skenderian Investment Real Estate Group is having a banner year. Already, it has completed 45 sales worth $75 million, according to Skenderian.
The company has recently brokered two more apartment deals.
In Orange, Morgan Skenderian has been involved in a $2.5 million acquisition by Jamboree Investors of Irvine, which is controlled by Fred Sparks and Rich Tucker of Jamboree Management. The 38-unit Twin Oak Apartments along North Oak Street were previously owned by a San Diego investment firm.
“The rents were very low,” said Skenderian. “The building was very clean and they owned it free and clear. So these guys are going to go in and spend about $40,000 to $50,000 total and bring rents to a more current market level.”
In Costa Mesa, Morgan Skenderian brokered a $750,000 purchase of the 20th Street Apartments at 130 E. 20th St. by Michael Cherney and Steve Merrill of Huntington Beach.
The 13-unit building will receive about $65,000 in renovations, according to Skenderian.
