A private Orange County investor bought the Yorba Linda Business Center, a 115,760-square-foot industrial park about a mile north of the Riverside (91) Freeway for $22.8 million.
It’s the priciest industrial sale reported in Orange County since the beginning of March and the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, according to brokerage data.
Villa Park-based Hamra Properties bought the four-building property at 22343 to 22349 La Palma Ave. for nearly $197 per square foot.
The buyer was completing the upleg of a 1031 exchange, according to the Irvine office of Avison Young Inc.
CBRE Group Inc. represented the seller, San Francisco-based institutional investor Industry Capital.
“We identified a well-maintained and managed asset in a very tight infill market with high barriers to entry on behalf of our buyer client,” said Avison’s Chris Smith, who brokered the deal along with Alan Pekarcik.
The buyer “plans to manage and continue multitenant operations at the property,” according to Smith.
The property was built in 1998 and is on 9.1 acres.
It’s 93% leased to a large mix of industrial, office and flex users. The sale was completed at a cap rate of about 5.6%, according to brokerage data.
Hamra Properties, an office and industrial investor that also owns auto repair complexes in Irvine and Rancho Santa Margarita, has taken a recent interest in the area.
In November it bought Anaheim Hills Business Center, a five-building business park totaling 155,000 square feet, for $21.3 million. It’s about 4 miles east of the Yorba Linda property.
Market Update
The OC industrial market started 2020 in what was going to be another year of economic expansion, albeit at a slower pace, with strong fundamentals, according to a recent report by the Newport Beach office of JLL.
“After being a landlord’s market for the past five-plus years, the local market has inched towards a neutral state, largely due to lack of desirable space,” the first quarter 2020 report said.
Prior to COVID-19’s impact on the local market, total vacancy for the sector in OC was up slightly to 2.7%, among the lowest rates in the nation.
Already a leader in the sector, e-commerce is “set to be a true winner” in coming months, according to the report.
“OC industrial is well situated to withstand the trough and should be set for a speedy recovery for the same reasons it was performing well prior to the outbreak.”
