Econolite Group Inc., a maker of traffic lights and other transportation control systems and one of the region’s oldest companies, has found a new home in Anaheim.
A Long Beach-based LLC with ties to company Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Doyle recently completed the purchase of 1250 N. Tustin Ave., an 85,000-square-foot office building about a mile north of the Riverside (91) Freeway near Miraloma Avenue.
The company paid $19.8 million for the facility, or about $233 per square foot, according to CBRE Group Inc., whose Carol Trapani, Ben Seybold and Sean Ward represented the buyer.
Colliers International’s Clyde Stauff represented the seller, New York-based private equity firm Blackstone Group, which bought the site last year as part of a large portfolio deal involving Irvine-based LBA Realty.
The buyer in the latest transaction, Doyle Properties LLC, took out a $10 million loan for the purchase from Kansas City Life Insurance Co., according to property records.
The buy was part of a 1031-exchange; Doyle Properties sold Econolite’s former property at 3360 E. La Palma Ave. in Anaheim in February for a reported $16.6 million. The new owner of the 144,000-square-foot property, according to CoStar Group Inc. records, is American Technologies Inc., which specializes in restoring properties damaged by fire, mold, flood or an asbestos contamination. It’s moving there from Orange.
The timing of the 1250 N. Tustin transaction “put a great deal of pressure on all parties to perform, as the buyer’s extensive improvements to the interior of their new facility and the completion of the 1031-exchange were linked,” CBRE’s Trapani said in a statement.
Econolite has wanted to transition from a heavy manufacturing and sheet metal fabrication type of site to an engineering/high-tech one, according to CBRE. Its portfolio includes traffic controllers, arterial system masters, advanced transportation management systems, vehicle and bicycle detection systems, communication solutions, traffic control cabinets, and vehicle and pedestrian signals.
The privately held company got its start in 1933 when its founders created a stop sign with a built-in flashing red light controlled by a solar on-off switch, the first “econolite.”
The company later became the installation contractor for General Electric’s traffic signal unit and later distributed GE’s traffic products.
The firm moved from Los Angeles to the East La Palma facility in 1971. In 1978, Doyle led a buyout of the company.
Rental Returns
The local multifamily market continues to show no signs of slowing down in terms of rental increases or development, according to two new reports from area brokerages.
The average asking monthly rents for units in Orange County stand at $1,806 per unit, up 2.7% from a year ago, according to NAI Capital’s Multifamily Market Outlook.
Rents have increased for 22 consecutive quarters, while vacancy rates at complexes average about 3.2%, down from 3.3% a year ago.
OC sale prices now average $239,723 per unit, up 18.4% over last year. Capitalization rates for deals average about 4.4%.
“Cap rates continue to be depressed with an abundance of capital demanding product,” said NAI Senior Vice President Steve Heri, who works in the brokerage’s Irvine office.
“That being said sellers do not have anywhere else to place their capital other than exchange. And we are seeing more exchanges in the market,” Heri said in a statement.
At the end of 2007, there were 66,138 multifamily units in OC, from midsize to large complexes, according to new data from the Irvine office of JLL. After a decade’s worth of active apartment development across the county, the total now stands at 105,725 units, JLL reported a few weeks ago.
Even more is needed. From 2016 to 2021, Orange County is projected to experience 4.9% population growth, or approximately 175,000 people, the report said.
“In order to account for the increasing population and with millennials buying homes at later ages, the growing multifamily supply will provide more housing options for Orange County residents,” the report said.
