Bascom Group Pays $16.5M for
LA Apartment Complex
COMMERCIAL
Deerfield, Ill.-based The Walgreen Co. is planning to build some 200 new stores during the next four years in the Los Angeles and Orange County markets.
Already, developers working on behalf of the national drug-store chain have been active buying up real estate locally.
Evergreen Devco Inc., Glendale, one of Walgreen’s regional partners, recently closed escrow on parcels that will be the sites of two new stores in Orange County.
One is at the southwest corner of Beach Boulevard and Imperial Highway in La Habra. Most of the new 15,000-square-foot outlet, which has an opening target date of June, will go on property purchased last year from Firestone. But existing buildings on parcels just recently acquired to complete the site will be demolished, including a 7,000-square-foot strip mall and a 9,800-square-foot health club.
In Anaheim, Evergreen also has closed escrow on multiple parcels at the northeast corner of State College Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue. Walgreen plans to open at that location in the second quarter. All existing buildings will be demolished, including a 10,000-square-foot strip center and an adjacent 1,500-square-foot office building.
A team of CB Richard Ellis brokers, which specializes in retail properties from the company’s new Anaheim office, worked on both deals. That group is made up of Jim Duke, Carol Schillne, Mitz Maton and Shannon North.
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The Cypress building that is the corporate headquarters of Cleveland Golf Corp. has been purchased by DJ Investment Properties LP of Encino for more than $5.8 million.
Kevin Turner of The Seeley Co. in Irvine, who helped broker the deal, said Taiwan-based Naltec Investment Corp. sold the property as part of a shuffling of its real estate portfolio.
He added that DJ Investment’s acquisition, which equated to about $76.50 a square foot, was a good value since undeveloped land in the area is difficult to find.
“The barriers to entry into that market are very strong,” said Turner. “There’s no land for sale,you can’t go in and build a duplicate of that type of facility in that market.”
The 76,032-square-foot industrial complex includes office space and is designed to fit in with other large corporate headquarters facilities in the area, he added.
“It has become a popular market for companies from the Pacific Rim to operate their regional headquarters from,” said Turner.
A partnership based in Los Angeles that includes German financial backing, Los Alisos Village Associates, has purchased Los Alisos Village in Mission Viejo for $5.1 million.
The 131,000-square-foot neighborhood retail center’s former owner, David Haddad of Los Angeles, had listed the property on and off since 1995.
“The new owners plan to do $100,000 to $200,000 in improvements to the property,” said Reza Etedali, senior vice president of Sperry Van Ness in Irvine, who helped broker the deal.
Now anchored by an Auto Zone and Baskin & Robbins, the mall is 18% vacant.
But Etedali said new ownership has already landed one new lease, with a daycare center for about 2,000 square feet.
“So they should be able to get to full occupancy within about a year,” he added.
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In Long Beach, Etedali recently brokered a deal in which a Marina del Rey couple paid $6.95 million for Marina Plaza.
“We had more than 10 offers on the property,” said Etedali. “It’s a nice-looking property on a high-traffic corner.”
Urban Court, a Japanese-controlled partnership, decided to sell the plaza as part of a decision to divest its real estate holdings in the U.S. to lower debt levels.
The new owners wound up paying about $217 a square foot for the plaza.
“For that market, the seller got a pretty good price,” said Etedali, who added that the plaza is 98% leased.
Co-listing agent on the property is Fouy Ly of Sperry Van Ness.
A family partnership that has been active in local real estate markets has paid $2.75 million to purchase a 26,465-square-foot retail center in Placentia.
Giacomo and Yolanda Zanchi along with Theofanais Teazis bought Smoketree Square along Placentia Avenue for almost $105 a square foot.
The seller was GVD Commercial Properties Inc., an Orange-based real estate investment firm that had owned the property since 1979.
The retail center is 100% leased and is directly across from a brand new Albertson’s near Yorba Linda Boulevard.
Scott Hook, a senior investment associate with Marcus & Millichap in Newport Beach, represented the seller in the transaction.
RESIDENTIAL
Irvine-based The Bascom Group LLC has purchased a 204-unit apartment complex in Los Angeles for $16.5 million from Charles and Jean Crail.
The new owner plans to spend more than $2.8 million to upgrade Cohasset Village Townhomes, which are along Cohasset Street.
Westminster-based Millennium Pacific Asset Management will be the property manager for the complex.
The property consists of 16 low-rise buildings with one- to three-bedroom units which average around 1,146 square feet. Most of the units are townhomes that were originally designed to be sold as condominiums, according to the new owner.
The Bascom Group has been active in Southern California real estate markets during the past two years, buying more than 3,500 apartment units from San Diego to the Inland Empire.
The private equity fund group was founded in 1996 by Derek Chen, Jerome Fink and David Kim. The company typically buys low-cost older properties and spends heavily on improvements. The firm says its strategy is to look for apartments in high-demand areas, where rents can be raised after buildings are renovated and management efficiencies can lower operating costs.
