Sandpointe at MacArthur Place, a two-building office site in the South Coast Metro area of Santa Ana, has been sold to a local investor in a deal that looks to be worth nearly $60 million.
Newport Beach-based Cress Capital LLC, a commercial real estate investor that buys office and industrial properties in the Western U.S., said last week that it had bought the complex, whose two buildings along Sandpointe Avenue total about 300,000 square feet.
The white-stone office buildings are on 8.2 acres of land on the southwestern edge of MacArthur Place, the mixed-use complex near the intersection of the Costa Mesa (55) and San Diego (I-405) freeways.
The complex also holds the Essex Skyline apartment towers, Orange County’s tallest residential buildings, along with several office towers and other buildings.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the buyer, although Cress Capital said that it bought the Santa Ana offices around the same time it bought a 23-building portfolio of buildings in Fort Collins, Colo. in deals that totaled $110 million combined.
BizWest, a trade publication in Colorado, reported the 500,000-square-foot Fort Collins buy to be for $50.1 million, which would put the Sandpointe deal at just under $60 million, or $200 per square foot.
That price would place the transaction among Orange County’s top four office sales this year, according to CoStar Group Inc. data.
Cress Capital bought the Santa Ana complex from Boston-based TA Realty, which had purchased the buildings about ten years ago for a reported $77 million. The offices were listed for sale earlier this year by the Newport Beach office of brokerage HFF LP.
The 200 Sandpointe Ave. building is about 75% leased, while 201 Sandpointe Ave. is nearly full, according to brokerage data.
Universal Electronics Inc., a maker of remote control and wireless technologies for smart-home use, is the buildings’ largest tenant, according to CoStar records.
The company has its headquarters at 201 Sandpointe, where it leases 36,184 square feet in a deal that runs through late 2022, according to regulatory filings.
“The Sandpointe acquisition represents a rare value-add opportunity within a mid-recovery market,” said Art Smith, Cress Capital managing partner.
“Our compelling cost basis and a focused repositioning campaign should continue to drive absorption as tenants look for a well-located, value alternative to the best-in-class buildings nearby,” said Smith, who previously served as the director of acquisitions for the Voit Cos., the Newport Beach-based commercial brokerage and developer.
Affordable
Rents at the Sandpointe buildings are among the most affordable for office properties in MacArthur Place; monthly rents are listed at about $2.35 per square foot.
Cress Capital was formed in 2012; its principals report having invested over $1.9 billion in multiple market cycles.
The Santa Ana purchase is the second notable Orange County buy for the company over the past eight months.
Last October, the company partnered with New York-based C-III Capital Partners LLC to buy Newport Irvine Center, a three-story, 76,837-square-foot office building in Newport Beach.
The Newport Beach office is at 3300 Irvine Ave, about two miles from John Wayne Airport. It sold for $21.4 million, or $279 per square foot, according to property records.
