MBK, Pulte Acquire Lots in LA-Area Masterplanned Communities
COMMERCIAL
Snyder Langston has completed construction of a five-story office building at the junction of the San Diego (405) Freeway and Von Karman Avenue, the newest addition to the airport area’s skyline.
The 128,135-square-foot building, part of the Lakeshore Towers complex, was built for GE Investments at a cost of $10 million. The new building was designed with precast concrete panels, punched windows and glazed-ribbon walls.
The latest building joins the existing Lakeshore Tower and the Sports Club Irvine at the site. Snyder Langston now turns its attention to completing a third office building, a 10-story structure.
Agan Adds Corona Center
Steve Agan, a homebuilder in the San Diego area, has purchased the McKinley Commerce Center in Corona for $3.8 million from E.J. Investment Company.
The retail center at 2187-2191 Sampson Ave. in Corona sits on 4.2 acres of land. The McKinley Commerce Center was built in 1990, and it is fully leased.
Grace Yoon, a broker with the Anaheim office of Colliers Seeley, represented Agan. Faris/Lee represented E.J. Investment.
RESIDENTIAL
Western Pacific Housing, which was launched in Orange County in 1993 and has sold more than 1,000 homes here over the years, has agreed to acquire 45 homesites in Coto de Caza for an undisclosed amount from Lennar Communities. Escrow is expected to close in the fall.
The move, company officials said, is part of an effort to refocus on Orange County, a market the company has shied away from in favor of the Inland Empire because of the high cost of land and tough competitive environment.
“Actually, it’s been tough in Orange County because the market has been so good,” said Evan Knapp, senior vice president of operations with the El Segundo-based homebuilder. “The commodity of developable land is limited. There are some excellent masterplanned communities that offer land … and so growth has really been restricted to those areas or smaller infill-type sites. With the market being so hot and appreciation going up so much, its been difficult to bid competitively on land and make every deal work.
“Now it’s getting back to a place where the environment is changing a little bit and we have a little bit of a better chance to do infill deals.”
As an example of what Western Pacific Housing is looking to do, Knapp pointed to the recently completed community of Serena in Stanton. Western Pacific acquired a closed senior facility and hospital, demolished the building and rezoned the site for 85 single-family homes. The company built 1,300- to 1,800-square-foot homes and sold them for $160,000 to $200,000.
“We will continue to look for infill sites and see where we can make it work,” Knapp said. “We’re not looking for the typical-type transaction where someone is selling finished lots.”
In Coto de Caza, the company plans to build “estate-size” homes of 4,000 to 6,000 square feet, with prices starting from the $800,000 range. Construction is expected to begin at end of this year, with sales beginning soon after and deliveries being made in the middle of 2001.
Western Pacific is negotiating to acquire several additional parcels in Orange County, and hopes to build roughly 600 units a year in Orange County and the Inland Empire, up from the estimated 300 units it will deliver this year, Knapp said.
MBK Goes to Gardena
MBK Homes Ltd. has acquired 76 lots in the masterplanned community of Emerald Square in Gardena for an undisclosed sum from Greystone Homes.
The Irvine-based homebuilder, a division of MBK Real Estate Ltd., plans to offer single-family, two-story homes priced from the low to mid-$300,000s. Construction on the 2,450- to 2,850-square-foot homes is scheduled to begin in early March, with model grand openings slated for the summer.
Pulte in Diamond Hills
Pulte Home Corporation has agreed to buy a 339-acre site in the masterplanned community of Diamond Hills in Diamond Bar for $24 million from Anaheim-based SunCal Cos. The purchase, which will consist of 127 lots, will occur in two phases. Phase One already has been closed, with the company paying $12 million for 65 10,000-square-foot lots. The acquisition of the remaining portion of the site will be completed in November.
Pulte plans to build 4,000- to 5,000-square-foot luxury homes priced upward of $600,000 on the 339-acre parcel, which will include more than 200 acres of open space.
Craig Atkins, Mike Hunter and David K. Landes of O’Donnell/Atkins Company represented both parties in the transaction.
