CenterPoint Properties has closed on the buy of J.C. Penney Co.’s massive logistics and distribution facility in Buena Park in one of the largest industrial sales in Orange County in years.
The Oak Brook, Ill.-based industrial firm, which is trying to boost its West Coast presence, completed the acquisition of 6800 Valley View St. around the start of the month, according to property records.
The site has nearly 1.1 million square feet of warehouse and logistics space, making it one of the largest buildings in Orange County.
The Business Journal first reported that J.C. Penney was seeking a sale of the property in October, and last month reported that the deal between CenterPoint and the struggling department store giant was in the works.
Industry watchers last month put an estimated price of about $140 million, or roughly $130 per square foot, on the sprawling property prior to the deal concluding. That turned out to be a little high; J.C. Penney disclosed in recent regulatory filings that the deal was “for approximately $130 million,” or roughly $121 per square foot.
It’s still a record price paid for a 1970s-era industrial building here, according to data from the Irvine office of brokerage JLL, which says the site will be marketed to tenants needing 250,000 square feet or more of space.
CenterPoint’s website shows the Buena Park site is on about 44.5 acres. The facility holds about 104,000 square feet of office space and has 152 truck docks. It offers enough parking for 191 trailers and 722 cars.
The site is a few blocks north of the Artesia (91) Freeway and about 3 miles northwest of the Knott’s Berry Farm theme park.
Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney still occupies the space but plans to move its logistics operations to a smaller, more efficient facility in the Inland Empire. A time frame for the relocation hadn’t been disclosed.
It’s the second big reported J.C. Penney property sale this year. In January it sold its sprawling headquarters facility in Plano for a reported $353 million in a sale-leaseback deal with Dallas-based Dreien Opportunity Partners.
CenterPoint has one other Orange County industrial property to its name, a 121,300-square-foot building in Huntington Beach that it bought in 2011.
Bascom Sale
Veranda Apartment Homes, a 128-unit multifamily community in Fullerton, has traded hands at a big premium to its last sale five years ago.
A tenant-in-common investment group based in Los Angeles and operating as New Veranda SPE bought the property late last month, according to property records.
The complex sold for $35 million, or a little more than $273,000 per unit, according to brokers with Berkadia who worked on the deal.
Veranda Apartments is a few blocks north of the Riverside (91) Freeway at the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue. It was built in 1987 and has units averaging nearly 900 square feet.
The deal was brokered by Berkadia Managing Director Shane Shafer and Senior Director Peter Hauser, who work in the firm’s Irvine office.
The complex was sold by Irvine-based Bascom Group, which bought it in 2012 for $20.4 million.
The Fullerton sale comes around the same time Bascom made a much larger purchase in Orange County, paying $94 million for the 406-unit Villas at Tustin rental complex in Santa Ana.
The deal is its largest-ever purchase in Orange County.
Denver Deal
Newport Beach-based KBS Realty Advisors has put another big office tower it owns on the sales market.
An affiliate of the real estate investor recently listed Denver’s 31-story Granite Tower, which encompasses about 560,000 square feet. A price near $200 million is anticipated for the building, which a real estate investment trust run by KBS bought in 2010 for $149 million.
KBS is also looking to offload its Union Bank Plaza tower in downtown Los Angles, a 40-story office at 445 S. Figueroa St. that it paid $208 million for in 2010.
A price around $315 million is anticipated for the L.A. tower this time.
