The local division of Houston-based Hines Interest LP has bought the ground under one of its larger Orange County office properties.
The real estate investor and developer last month acquired the ground lease to the 33-acre Raytheon Campus, a big office complex next to the Amerige Heights housing and retail development in Fullerton.
It partnered in late 2012 with Los Angeles private-equity firm Oaktree Capital Management LP to buy the two buildings at the Raytheon Campus, which total 405,130 square feet. That deal was estimated at $18 million, a relatively low price that factored in the existing ground lease at the property, which was owned by the sole tenant, defense contractor Raytheon Co.
Last month’s sale of the ground lease was for an additional $18 million, according to CoStar Group Inc. estimates.
An affiliate of Hines operating as Hughes Drive Acquisition Partners LLC made the deal. It’s unknown whether Oaktree—a frequent investor with Hines in area acquisitions—also was involved in the ground lease purchase.
The Hines affiliate financed the deal with a $33 million loan it took out with JPMorgan Chase Bank, according to property records.
“We are pleased we have united the fee simple 33-acre portion of the project (previously owned by Raytheon) with the lease-hold piece we bought from Phillip Morris in 2012,” said Ray Lawler, the head of Hines’ OC operations, in a statement. “This is our third (local) acquisition this year, all of which were in North County.”
The Raytheon campus was built in 1986 at 1801 Hughes Drive. It has a pair of three-story office buildings and an on-site utility structure.
The site is nestled in the corner of what formerly was a larger complex used by Hughes Aircraft Co. Raytheon has had operations in Fullerton since acquiring Hughes Aircraft in 1997.
It was reported at the time of the 2012 purchase that Raytheon leased the entire property under a deal that runs through early 2017, although the Waltham, Mass.-based company has several renewal options that could extend the lease into 2042.
It’s unknown whether the tenant has extended the lease.
Raytheon was Fullerton’s third largest employer as of 2010, with 1,446 employees, according to city records.
Tennis to Townhomes
Homebuilder D.R. Horton has closed on the buy of a roughly 8.4-acre site in Anaheim Hills that once was home to a tennis club and now will be converted into a housing project.
A unit of the Fort Worth, Texas-based builder last month completed the purchase of land on Anaheim Hills Road less than a mile south of the Riverside (91) Freeway.
The property was sold by a private investor for about $12.7 million, or roughly $1.5 million an acre, according to CoStar records.
The site had been home to the Anaheim Hills Racquet Club, an 11-court tennis club previously used by Chapman University for some matches.
A developer operating as Sagecrest LLC got city approvals this summer to convert the site into a 60-unit residential project featuring three- and four-bedroom townhomes.
Sagecrest agreed to pay the city $200,000 to fund some recreational areas near the project as part of the development agreement, according to city records. D.R. Horton wasn’t involved in the project prior to its purchase of the site last month, the records indicate.
A timeframe for the construction project hasn’t been announced.
JWA Exec Suites
Irvine-based Premier Business Centers, one of the country’s largest operators of executive suites, has added a location a block from John Wayne Airport.
The company, which was started by the founders of Irvine apartment investor Bascom Group LLC, said it will open a 31,500-square-foot location at the four-story Airport Tower Plaza at 2082 Michelson Drive.
It will occupy three floors at the recently renovated building, which will hold 81 private executive offices and mini-suites, four conference rooms, a 36-seat training room, a kitchen, a lounge and a reception area to conduct business.
The company now has more than 20 locations in OC, including a number of airport-area offices. It leases over 1.4 million square feet of executive space to small companies nationwide.
