AvalonBay Communities Inc. plans to build its next area apartment development on the site of one of Brea’s largest office complexes.
The Arlington, Va.-based apartment owner recently struck a deal with the local office of Houston-based Hines to build 653 units on land at the latter’s Brea Place campus.
The office property is just north of Brea Mall at the intersection of State College Boulevard and Birch Street and just west of the Orange (57) Freeway.
AvalonBay paid about $25 million to buy out the stake of frequent Hines financial partner Oaktree Capital Management in Los Angeles, in the proposed development, according to CoStar Group Inc. records.
Hines will retain an ownership stake in the multifamily project, which is being built next to the six-building, 556,000-square-foot office campus it already owns at the property.
Hines, one of Orange County’s largest office owners, bought the 30-acre Brea Place site in a series of transactions starting in 2014 and has spent about $40 million upgrading office properties and getting entitlements for the apartments and a hotel. Plans for the latter are still in the works.
The investor and developer, whose local offices are in Newport Beach, said it’s had about 440,000 square feet worth of deals at the complex since its initial investment there.
Notable tenants added to the midrise complex include Manufacturers Bank, Becton Dickinson, CoolSys, HdL, Orange County government and TP Link.
Hines executives estimate its investments have created or maintained about 2,000 jobs at Brea Place over the past four years.
Expect to see even more people on site once the apartments are built. The 529,000-square-foot multifamily project will be built in two separate midrise projects on different sides of the office complex.
It’s being designed by Architects Orange and will include outdoor plazas, a farmers market, a multiuse area and a pedestrian paseo, the two companies said.
Groundbreaking will be early next year. AvalonBay and Hines want to open the project by the third quarter of 2020.
It would be Hines’ first multifamily project in Orange County. It’s also planning a similar project at an office site it owns in Anaheim.
The Brea plans come as AvalonBay sold one of its newest area properties, a 251-unit rental complex in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle.
Irvine-based Advanced Real Estate Services said it paid $112 million last month for the Katella Avenue property, which is now called Stadium House. AvalonBay built the complex next to Angels Stadium in 2009.
At the start of the year, it owned 13 communities in Orange County totaling 3,612 units. The recently sold Anaheim complex, which it named Avalon Anaheim Stadium, was its only property in North OC at that point.
Brea is no stranger to mixed-use projects featuring both offices and apartments. A little over a mile from the AvalonBay-Hines site, Newport Beach-based Olen Properties Corp.’s Olen Point Brea campus includes a mix of both property types. It’s Olen’s only OC apartment complex; its national portfolio tops 14,000 units.
Brea Mall also plans to add a residential element next to the 1.1-million-square-foot shopping center.
Crestavilla Opens
Irvine-based real estate investor Steadfast Cos. has taken the wraps off a senior living community it developed in Laguna Niguel.
The 209-unit Crestavilla opened last month on 11.5 acres on Niguel Road. It features a mix of independent living, assisted living, and memory-care services. The nearly 211,000-square-foot community cost an estimated $100 million to build, according to news reports.
Atria Senior Living of Louisville, Ky., is operating the complex, which is owned by Steadfast under its senior living affiliate.
The community includes 80,000 square feet of indoor amenities, among them a fitness center and underground parking. There are five dining venues, including two full-service restaurants. Outdoor amenities include poolside and rooftop lounges.
Crestavilla offers studio and one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Monthly apartment rental rates start at $6,600, larger apartments for up to $15,000.
