Three Orange County offices and an industrial park are trading hands this month, as part of nearly $160 million in Southern California sales by Newport Beach-based investor ZMI Real Estate Inc.
ZMI Real Estate, a privately held company led by President Stephen Zotovich, sold off the four properties, totaling more than 640,000 square feet, in two transactions.
In the larger deal,$125 million,ZMI Real Estate sold a 384,815-square-foot office portfolio to Los Angeles-based Jamison Properties Inc., a privately owned investment group.
A separate $34.5 million deal saw ZMI Real Estate sell a 257,637-square-foot industrial park to Boston-based investor Colony Realty Partners LLC.
The two sales consisted of the majority of ZMI Real Estate’s holdings, said Kevin Shannon, vice chairman for the Torrance office of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., who brokered the two deals.
The investor has been a more active seller than buyer locally as of late.
Last year, ZMI Real Estate sold a 12-building, 251,219-square-foot portfolio of industrial buildings to San Juan Capistrano-based Birtcher Anderson Realty LLC for $29 million.
Following the two sales, ZMI Real Estate has about six properties on its books. It’s on the lookout for new deals, said Bruce Ibbetson, one of three partners at the firm.
“We intend to remain an open and vibrant firm. We’ll be re-loading with more assets,” he said.
The company has stayed local with most of its buys to date, but is now eyeing Arizona and Northern California as possible markets. Locally, “prices are pretty high right now,” Ibbetson said.
The office holdings sold to Jamison Properties traded hands at about $325 per square foot. It includes six offices, including three buildings in OC.
OC Buildings
Local properties include the 58,370-square-foot Tustin Corporate Plaza, an office and medical building at 1401 N. Tustin Ave. in Santa Ana.
Also trading hands: two buildings in Newport Beach totaling about 56,000 square feet, 1151 Dove St. and 1000 Quail St. The two-story Quail Street property includes ZMI Real Estate’s headquarters.
The largest building in the Jamison sale is the Academy, an eight-story, 174,712-square-foot office complex in North Hollywood. The property is part of a masterplanned development that includes the headquarters for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
In Solana Beach, Jamison is buying the Timbers, a 47,273-square-foot office building along the San Diego (I-5) Freeway. The building, the former headquarters for Jenny Craig Inc., was bought in 2004 by ZMI for a reported $12.9 million.
More Than 100 Properties
Jamison started buying real estate in 1995 and now owns more than 100 properties, primarily in Los Angeles.
This month’s deal roughly doubles its area holdings.
Its local presence had included a handful of medical properties in west Anaheim and Orange, according to the company’s Web site.
The $34.5 million sale to Colony Realty includes three industrial business parks with a total of 11 buildings. They include the Santa Ana Business Center, the Milliken Ontario Business Center and the Oceanside Business Park in Oceanside.
The three industrial projects are 98% full with 68 tenants.
Along with Shannon, CB Richard Ellis’ Scott Schumacher, Ken White and Louay Alsadek also represented both ZMI Real Estate and the buyers in both transactions.
Deals are still being made, despite the credit crunch of the past few months, Shannon said.
Volume is likely to start picking up now that summer is ending, he said.
“There’s too much (investment capital) floating around for it not to,” Shannon said.
