Spieker Developing Up North, Quiet Here; Quest Leases More Space
COMMERCIAL
The Union Bank Square complex of office buildings in Orange is for sale, and the property has generated quite a bit of serious interest, according to sources familiar with the deal.
The 384,940-square-foot office complex,one of the biggest to come on the market this year,consists of two 12-story buildings, a six-story building and two one-story buildings, one of which is an annex building attached to the parking structure. The buildings are at 500 S. Main, 600 S. Main, 530 S. Main, 550 S. Main and 1518 W. La Veta Ave. in Orange. The owner is an unnamed pension fund.
The complex, which is being marketed by Bob Smith of CB Richard Ellis, already has gone through a first round of bidding, and word on the street has the ownership team now going back to some of the top bidders in an effort to winnow the field down to the finalists.
Spieker’s Hot Markets
Spieker Properties, which is still active on the acquisition side locally, doesn’t anticipate undertaking any development activities any time soon, said John Davenport, Spieker’s point man in Southern California.
“We have a lot of land parcels moving along and getting ready for development,permitting and entitlements,but really, for us activity is so strong in the Bay area that most of our capital is being used (there) on new development,” Davenport said.
“It’s just incredible what’s going on up there,” he said, adding that between that market and Seattle, Spieker has close to $500 million dollars of development in the works. “There’s so much going on up there and the economy is so hot that rents have surged.”
Locally, Davenport said, Spieker is moving forward with design and permitting plans for roughly 2 million square feet of development in Mission Viejo, Irvine, Anaheim, Brea, and near San Diego. Still, don’t expect to see any earth movers at any of these sites.
“We’re just teeing it up right now,” he said. “We’re pushing the process along in the design and entitlement end of things, but we’re not building.”
Deals:
A partnership of Swede-Cal Properties Inc. and Newport Beach-based California Rosen LLC has paid $18 million to Kilroy Realty Corp. for the 134,000-square-foot Pacific Park Plaza business complex in Aliso Viejo. It’s the second time around in the owner’s chair for Swede-Cal, which originally developed the property but sold it to Kilroy in 1997 as part of a $50 million portfolio deal. Swede-Cal and Kilroy represented themselves in the transaction Broadcom Telcom Power Inc. has signed a five-year, $900,000 lease for 16,483 square feet of research and development space in Santa Ana. The company, which designs power supplies using flat transformer technology, has already occupied the building at 1719 S. Grand Ave., having relocated from Costa Mesa. The building houses the firm’s corporate headquarters and research and development operation. David Brakesman, a manager with Grubb & Ellis’ Newport Beach office, represented Broadcom, while Stephen Schloemer and Mike Hartel of the Seeley Co. represented the landlord, Catellus Finance 1 LLC of San Francisco Anaheim-based Inet Airport Systems has purchased a 20,000-square-foot industrial building in Anaheim for $1.3 million from CST Environmental of Brea. The maker of ground support systems for aircraft, which has already moved into its new offices at 2100 E. Via Burton, relocated its corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations. Jay Nugent and Mike Merk of Grubb & Ellis’ Anaheim office represented CST Environmental, while Troy Williams of the same office represented Inet. The Max Singer Ltd. Partnership has paid $1.4 million for the 16,750-square-foot industrial building at 1711 Langley Ave. in Irvine. Chris Migliori of Daum Commercial Real Estate Services’ Anaheim office represented Prime Mover, the seller, while John Rothwell of Daum Commercial’s Newport Beach office represented The Max Singer Ltd. Partnership.
RESIDENTIAL
Orange County home values are projected to appreciate roughly 8% this year, making it the fourth-hottest market in the country, according to a report by The Meyers Group, an Irvine-based real estate consulting and information company.
In an indication of just how hot the California real estate market is, the top five spots were all held by markets in the state, led by the Bay area, where housing values are projected to appreciate 15.7%. The San Diego area was next with a 12.3% appreciation projection, and Los Angeles-Long Beach was third at 8.1%. The Inland Empire was ranked fifth at 7.5%.
The Meyers Group report ranked the top 75 markets in the country.
While OC ranked fourth in projected appreciation rates, it was the second-most-expensive market on the list, with a median home price of $304,000, behind only the Bay area where the average median price of a home is $422,000. San Diego was third at $260,000, the Boston-Worcester-Lawrence area was fourth at $245,000 and Los Angeles-Long Beach was fifth with a median price of $222,000.
