Ray Wirta has retired as president of the Irvine Company, but the longtime area real estate exec appears to be keeping busy through his other real estate ventures.
Newport Beach-based Arrimus Capital, a real estate investment and development firm where Wirta serves as a partner and board member, said late last month it acquired a luxury student housing community in Austin, Texas.
Arrimus paid an undisclosed price for the 49-unit complex, called Villas on 26th, about a mile from the University of Texas.
It was bought free and clear of existing debt from locally based Zucker Properties, which developed it in 2014.
Villas on 26th is Arrimus’ seventh student housing community purchase since 2017, and brings the company’s portfolio to more than $320 million and 3,894 beds, according to a company statement.
Arrimus is run by Christopher Lee, Wirta’s son.
Wirta, 75, last month announced his retirement from Newport Beach’s Irvine Co. after nine years of service. He’d held the president role since 2016.
The news made no mention of Wirta stepping away from any of his other numerous real estate relationships: along with Arrimus he also serves on the board of commercial brokerage giant CBRE Group Inc., is chief executive of commercial development firm Koll Co. in Irvine, and is one of the ‘uncles’ of Costa Mesa’s Rich Uncles LLC, a fund-raising vehicle for small investors to buy into CRE properties.
Arrimus and its affiliated business have a few area developments in the works, including a 15-acre industrial site in Santa Ana. The company bought the Red Hill property from Ricoh Electronics Inc. last year for $43.5 million in a venture with Newport Beach-based CT Realty Investors.
The site, across the street from the northwestern edge of the Tustin Legacy development, is being eyed for apartment development or a new batch of industrial buildings; specific details for the project haven’t been given.
Arrimus has worked to get nearby industrial sites in Santa Ana entitled for large apartment projects in the past few years.
Beckman Center Sales Top $185M
Newport Beach developer Western Realco has sold out Beckman Business Center, the largest new industrial project in Orange County in four years.
The last remaining building at the business park sold last month for $16.5 million to an Orange County investment firm listed as Laguna Canyon Plaza LLC, with Timothy O’Neil as the true buyer according to property records.
The 79,000-square-foot building was vacant and will be leased to another user, according to CoStar Group Inc.
At $210 per square foot, the deal topped the $187 per square foot price seen for a larger portfolio deal at Beckman Business Center in January, when San Francisco-based Prologis Inc. paid about $124 million for the three largest buildings there, totaling close to 663,000 square feet.
Beckman Business Center has about 44 acres at the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Lambert Road near the Fullerton and La Habra city lines.
Western Realco finished the bulk of construction at the eight-building, 1-million-square-foot project in December.
The developer bought the site, the former home of Beckman Coulter Inc., in late 2015 and early 2016 in a pair of transactions.
The entire development’s cost was roughly $130 million, according to Gary Edwards, principal for the privately held developer, who oversaw the project with Jeremy Mape, the company’s director of acquisitions.
The latest transaction brings the sales total at the park to $187.6 million.
Other companies and investors that bought into the project include two owner-users: A.J. Kirkwood & Associates, an electrical contracting firm based in Tustin, and Achem Industries America Inc., a Cerritos-based maker of tape and other packaging products.
Bukewihge Properties, a private investor, bought two buildings there as well.
CBRE’s Anthony DeLorenzo, Gary Stache and Doug Mack represented the Laguna Canyon Plaza in the latest transaction, while Voit Real Estate Services’ Mitch Zehner, Seth Davenport, and Michael Heffner represented Western Realco.
