Tower Still in the Plans
Trammell Crow Brokers Industry Park Sale; Morgan Skenderian Brokers Apartment Deals
REAL ESTATE by Daniel D. Williams
COMMERCIAL:
Plans for what would be Orange County’s tallest building in Santa Ana aren’t dead.
That’s the word from Art Barrett, editor of Martin Brower’s Orange County Report, a real estate newsletter. Even with the economy boding against any new high rise developments, Santa Ana-based Caribou Industries still is pursuing plans for a 37-story tower at One Broadway Plaza.
Mike Harrah, the reclusive businessman behind Caribou and a good part of Santa Ana’s recent redevelopment, could see the City Council sign off on his tower by March, Barrett reports.
If the tower ever gets built is another question. But Gil Marrero of Voit Commercial, who handles most of Harrah’s real estate deals, said the developer has refocused on the project. The bearded Harrah was injured in a helicopter accident near Lake Tahoe in May and spent months in a wheelchair and a walker, according to Marrero. He’s better now, the broker told Barrett.
Harrah has a track record in Santa Ana. In the early 1990s, he bought up buildings when prices were low. Among his properties: the Santoro Building and the old Masonic Temple. Harrah bought the temple in 1999 and has spent about $5 million fixing it up.
Not much is known about Harrah. He’s known for his ZZ Top-like appearance and riding his motorcycle through downtown Santa Ana. In the 1960s, he took part in erecting the London Bridge at Lake Havasu. Marrero tells Barrett Harrah is an astute businessman who’s intensely private. His goal is to revive Santa Ana with the tower, which would loom above the city.
Trammell Crow Brokers Sale
The Orange County office of Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. brokered the sale of Towers Industrial Park, a 525,000-square-foot industrial park in the city of Industry. The sale price wasn’t disclosed. Major tenants in the park include Airborne Freight Corp.’s Airborne Express, Kraft Foods Inc. and Quaker Fabrics.
Rick Putnam, Jeff Cole and Phil Lombardo, principals with Trammell Crow, represented the buyer, Chicago-based RREEF, and the seller, CIIF II, an institutional investment fund managed by AEW Capital Management that’s based in Los Angeles and Boston.
UCI, NAIOP Team Up
The Southern California chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and the University of California, Irvine’s Graduate School of Management program in real estate are working together to come up with programs for the 2001-2002 real estate breakfast series.
Members of the brokerage community have to earn continuing education credits each year, according to Christopher Davis, director for UCI’s program in real estate management. Leaders at the association and UCI felt that real estate folks would benefit more by pooling the academic and industry resources at their disposal, he said.
Al Beaudette, education chair and past president for the association’s Southern California chapter said, the continuing education process had become little more than a formality.
“They make it so easy to get the credits,” Beaudette said. “You can gain credit over the Internet, and 99% of it can be done without studying.”
But Beaudette said he and UCI officials hope to offer more with the real estate breakfast series.
“We want to give people the tools to deals with specific projects,” he said. “We want to give practical knowledge that is immediately useful to the industry, something where you can walk out the door and make money off what you learned in the session.”
The breakfast series is set for February and April. More information: (949) 824-1147.
RESIDENTIAL:
Morgan Skenderian Investment Real Estate Group hit a hot streak brokering apartment deals in recent weeks. The Newport Beach-based company closed on five-apartment complexes representing 257 units during November and December. The deals included:
The sale of the eight-unit 21st Street Apartments in Costa Mesa for $995,000. Jay Skenderian and Grant Hahn of Morgan Skenderian represented the seller, Michael Santuci and Scott Holmes. Dave Abu of Coastline Realty represented the buyer, Chuck Prescott.
The sale of the 43-unit Candlewood Apartments in Whittier for $3.27 million. Skenderian and Ken Morgan represented seller Colima Road Properties LLC of Corona del Mar. Juan Ardenas from Remax represented buyers Russell and Marcia Bill.
The sale of the 16-unit Park Circle Apartments in Anaheim for $1.2 million. Skenderian and Morgan represented seller Pete DeProsperis. Newport Beach-based Torelli Investment Realty represented buyer Jack Crouse.
The $8.3 million sale of the 88-unit Cypress Village Apartments in Buena Park. Morgan, Skenderian and Gary Tolfa of Newport Beach-based Investment Property Group represented the seller, Irvine-based Bascom Lincoln Avenue Apartments LLC, as well as the buyer, Ed Cerna,
The sale of the 102-unit Cypress Garden Apartments in Cypress for $8.5 million. Skenderian, Morgan and Tolfa represented the seller, Irvine-based The Bascom Group, and the buyer, Almost Cypress LLC of Palos Verdes.
Rent Growth Slows
Orange County’s rent march upward has slowed, according to a report by the Southern California office of Phoenix-based Hendricks & Partners. In the 12 months that ended with September, the average market rent grew 5.1% to $1,197. The growth rate was down from the 10.3% gain in 2000.
Also, the vacancy rate is growing. It climbed to 4.3% in the third quarter, compared to 2.6% from the same period a year ago. Sales have held steady, though, as Morgan Skenderian’s recent deals attest. OC recorded the sale of 29 properties of 25 or more units in the first nine months of 2001. In 2000, there were 30 sales in the first nine months.
Ladera Signs on Kohl’s
The residential community of Ladera Ranch kicked off its retail segment with an agreement to lease 93,000 square feet of space to Kohl’s Department Stores Inc. Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Kohl’s is set to be the anchor store for the 275,000-square-foot Mercantile East shopping center.
