The local office of Houston-based real estate developer and investor Hines has added another sizeable property in North Orange County to its portfolio with the 34-acre office campus in Brea, which houses Beckman Coulter Inc.’s local operations.
Hines’ Newport Beach office completed the purchase of the five-building office and industrial campus late last month. It’s at the intersection of Kraemer Boulevard and Birch Street about a mile east of the Orange (57) Freeway.
The deal was done in a venture with Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management LP, a frequent Hines investment partner on Orange County transactions.
The 576,234-square-foot campus serves as the diagnostics division headquarters of Beckman Coulter, a maker of biomedical laboratory instruments.
The unit of Washington, D.C.-based conglomerate Danaher Corp. will continue to occupy the entire campus, according to the buyers.
Beckman employs an estimated 1,000 people in Brea. It uses the campus for research and development, manufacturing, and product training initiatives.
Financial terms of the acquisition weren’t immediately disclosed. A price of about $100 million appears likely, based on recent pricing of other area office and industrial buildings.
Long-Term Lease
A Delaware-based business trust operating as NPDC-EY Brea Trust and NPDC-RI Brea Trust sold the campus, according to property records.
Beckman had a 20-year lease on the property that was due to expire this summer, according to the company’s 2011 regulatory statements, the most current on file.
Hines and Oaktree didn’t disclose terms of Beckman’s current lease there.
The site “has been exceptionally maintained by Beckman and includes outdoor common areas, fitness centers, multiple on-campus dining options, and community living space,” according to a statement by the buyers.
The complex also includes 1,642 surface parking spaces.
Beckman moved its headquarters from Fullerton to Brea in 2009 after renovating the Brea site.
The Fullerton site has been largely torn down to make way for an industrial development being built by Newport Beach-based Western Realco.
Danaher bought Beckman in 2011 in a deal valued at nearly $7 billion, ending Beckman’s reign as the county’s oldest healthcare company.
Founder and Orange County icon Arnold Beckman moved his medical instrument company from Los Angeles County to Fullerton in the 1950s. He died in 2004 at 104.
Busy Partners
The deal is the 10th acquisition Oaktree and Hines have made together in North OC.
Other deals they’ve done include additional large properties fully leased to large tenants. In 2013 they partnered to buy a 25-acre, 405,000-square-foot campus in Fullerton housing the main local operations of defense contractor Raytheon Co.
“We are pleased to add Beckman Coulter to our growing net leased portfolio in Orange County, now totaling approximately 1.5 million square feet,” said Hines Director Drew Huffman.
Hines and Oaktree partnered in 2014 to buy Brea Place, a 556,000-square-foot office campus just north of Brea Mall. Vacant land on the 30-acre site is being prepped for two apartment complexes totaling 653 units. Arlington, Va.-based AvalonBay Communities Inc. is working with Hines on the project, where construction should start next year.
“We are excited about the Beckman Coulter acquisition and our continued push into North Orange County, particularly in the City of Brea,” said Oaktree Managing Director Ambrose Fisher in a statement.
“The excellent location and exceptional tenant are a perfect complement to our existing portfolio.”
