Voit Development Co., one of last year’s most active local commercial real estate players, is negotiating to buy and develop more than $100 million worth of commercial and industrial properties in Orange County.
The deals, expected to be announced next month, would come on the heels of some $271 million spent in 1999 on acquisitions by the Woodland Hills-based firm.
Although those purchases took place throughout Southern California, the bulk of the company’s additions to its portfolio have come in Orange County.
And Bob Voit, the firm’s president, says the same pattern will hold true in 2000.
“We like the real estate fundamentals and we know the Orange County market,” he said. “We plan on focusing a lot of our attention in this area.”
Voit, who also controls a San Fernando Valley-based construction company and a commercial brokerage firm, has been gearing up his acquisitions and development business for the past two years.
But those activities intensified within the past year after Brian Malliet, a former local investment broker, joined the firm and Voit decided to work from Newport Beach after moving his home to the Balboa Peninsula almost two years ago.
“It’s a very busy time for us,” said Voit. “We are moving on several different projects.”
The developer has under contract about 30 acres in Brea along Lambert Road near Berry Street. Voit plans to develop more than 500,000 square feet of new flex-tech buildings at the site.
Malliet, Voit Development’s vice president of acquisitions and development who also works from the company’s Newport Beach office, expects to submit a formal request to the city within the next two weeks.
The yet-to-be-named project would cost about $35 million to complete, according to Malliet.
“It’s a large enough parcel to go in and develop a whole multi-tenant business park,” he said. “We’ve been looking for available land and it’s really difficult to find this large of an undeveloped piece.”
With about a dozen new buildings, the park will feature space for small industrial users looking for a combination of warehouse or distribution space along with room to operate an office and administrative staff.
“It’s an in-fill site in a good area,” said Voit. “So we don’t think we’ll have to worry about attracting enough tenants.”
The company would like to start construction of the project by September, depending on permitting schedules established by the city.
Voit Development also is negotiating to buy a 15-acre tract in Anaheim near Edison Field to develop a $19 million business park.
“These are primarily going to be larger buildings in the 50,000-to-70,000 (square foot) range,” said Malliet. “They will be available primarily for sale as opposed to being offered for lease, as the ones in Brea will be marketed.”
Neither Voit or Malliet would name the current owners of the properties until deals can be finalized. But they did say that the two projects fit together well since they offer two different types of products,one for smaller tenants and the other for larger, single owners,about eight miles apart.
“We want to be able to come out with both of them at the same time,” said Malliet.
Voit Development also has under contract a half-dozen multi-tenant business parks it plans to buy from a Japanese investor. The deal, which Malliet expects to close by June, is valued at more than $40 million.
The parks are in north and central Orange County as well as southern Los Angeles County, he added.
“There are another two or three (business parks) that are currently under contract and we’ll probably end up going down the road with them as well,” said Malliet. “Those will probably go in the $8 (million) to $10 million range.”
The company also has been asked by a Fortune 100 computer firm already active in Orange County to do a build-to-suit deal, according to Malliet.
Voit Development has a preliminary agreement to purchase 5.5 acres in Tustin, he said, that would serve as the site for a new 85,000- square-foot flex-tech development. n
