Local real estate executive Craig Atkins has added to his private commercial real estate portfolio by snapping up one of the more notable mixed-use properties along Mariner’s Mile in Newport Beach.
The chairman of Irvine-based homebuilder City Ventures paid $40 million for the 33,000-square-foot Khoshbin’s Landing, a two-building property that includes about 20,000 square feet of office space and two notable restaurants: Billy’s at the Beach and Louie’s by the Bay.
Atkins already owns other property in the area; he also has an interest in a nearly half-acre parcel of land on Lido Village that’s now home to a handful of tenants, including Malibu Farms and Lido Bottle Works.
The waterfront buys are private investments for Atkins, and not related to his work with City Ventures.
Similar to how new investments that have been transforming the Lido Village area over the past few years, “Mariner’s Mile is an exciting place to be right now,” Atkins told the Business Journal.
“I believe strongly in Newport Beach. It seems the city is being discovered all over again from people outside of the area, and we’re seeing more investment come to town,” he said.
“The redevelopment of Mariner’s Mile will continue to make it an attractive place to be.”
Seller Doubled Revenue
Atkins paid about $1,200 per square foot for the properties along the waterfront side of Coast Highway, which also includes a sizeable surface parking lot.
The seller is The Khoshbin Co., an Irvine-based real estate firm headed by Manny Khoshbin that bought the property in 2015 for $28.9 million.
“At the time, it needed improvements, and had several vacancies,” Khoshbin said last week.
After making upgrades and adding office, boat and restaurant tenants—Louie’s by the Bay opened at the start of last year—and more than doubling the property’s revenue, Khoshbin decided to sell.
“I’m a value-add investor, and once I feel one project is done, I move to the next,” said Khoshbin (see story, this page).
More Upgrades
Atkins plans to invest in additional upgrades at the property, specifically the offices. For those concerned about the future of a favorite restaurant, don’t be, he said.
“The two restaurants are extremely successful, and there aren’t changes planned on that front,” Atkins said.
Atkins has made several notable deals along the coast of OC in the past year; he was the seller of the more than $35 million “Duffy House” along the Balboa Peninsula, which gamed fame from its use in a parody music video, as well as its record-setting sales price for the area.
He also owns about 90,000 square feet of buildings in Northern California.
Expect his local portfolio to grow, with two deals in the works for retail properties outside of Newport Beach.
“While I do think it is a difficult time to invest with prices where they are, I still expect values to improve,” he said.
