Galleria Inc., an Anaheim-based importer of lawn, garden and other household products, has made more news with real estate buys than its main business recently.
The company’s reportedly been involved in at least $150 million worth of property sales and acquisitions since 2006 in Orange County and the Inland Empire.
There’s some speculation deals made near the peak of the market may have gone sour.
Two affiliated companies of Galleria recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Santa Ana division of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
It’s unclear whether the filings are directly related to Galleria’s real estate deals. The housing downturn and larger recession also could be factors for the importer of home and garden products, whose owners are based in Hong Kong.
The two bankruptcy petitions each list liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. The initial filings didn’t disclose the unit’s largest creditors.
Calls to Galleria’s lawyers weren’t returned.
Wachovia Bank, now part of Wells Fargo & Co., filed suit against the company in July for being in default on its loans.
In August, a court-appointed receiver was put in charge of the company, according to Superior Court records.
Galleria was involved in some of the area’s bigger industrial transactions the past few years.
In 2002, the company—which supplies its products to stores such as Home Depot and Costco—paid a reported $20 million for a 281,000-square-foot storage and distribution building on East La Palma Avenue in Anaheim. The building was a former campus of Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc.
By early 2006, the company was leasing four additional buildings in North County. At that point, Galleria opted to centralize distribution to a 715,000-square-foot property in Rialto, according to brokers. It paid a reported $59 million for that building.
The next year, Galleria swooped up another 383,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution building in Rialto for a reported $22.5 million. Both buildings were part of Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group Inc.’s Rialto Commerce Center.
According to brokerage data, Galleria helped finance the Rialto deals by selling its Anaheim property to Sares-Regis for $28.5 million and then leasing the Anaheim property back from the developer.
In 2008, Galleria reportedly bought back the La Palma property from Sares-Regis, paying $38 million.
URS Renewal
San Francisco-based URS Corp., one of OC’s largest engineering and environmental consultants, has re-upped the lease for its office in Santa Ana.
The company just signed a six-year extension at 2020 E. First St., which was set to expire next year. The lease is for 75,000 square feet.
The company is the largest tenant in the 110,000-square-foot office, known as the Colton Midtown Plaza II, which is owned by Irvine-based Colton Co.
Terms of the lease weren’t disclosed. Other space at the building is listed for lease at monthly rates of $1.95 per square foot.
The Irvine office of Studley Inc. represented URS in the lease.
URS counts about 300 local employees; its services include professional planning, engineering and architectural design, environmental, construction, and program and construction management.
The company ranked No. 6 on the Business Journal’s September list of largest engineering companies, with an estimated $55 million in local billings. Among environmental consultants, URS placed No. 2 in our latest ranking, in February.
Buena Park Yard Work
Buena Park’s Community Redevelopment Agency bought an industrial building where it plans to relocate its City Yard.
The city bought a 3.7-acre industrial site at 6955 Aragon Circle. The site includes 101,000 square feet of industrial space.
The city paid $7.25 million, or about $72 per square foot, for the property.
The property was sold by US Union Tool Inc. It was built in two phases and counts a two-story, 44,000-square-foot building and a three-story, 57,000-square-foot building.
The city of Buena Park plans to use the property as its new city yard, replacing the current one at 8071 Page St. It’ll take about two years to retrofit the Aragon property. It will hold an office for the public works department as well as parking lots for equipment storage, city trucks and workers.
The 5.5-acre Page Street property makes up about half the land where the city wants to build affordable housing. A master plan for that development is still in the works; the city said it is looking to solicit development proposals from qualified developers.
Josh Bonwell and Rick McGeagh of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s Anaheim and Torrance offices represented the buyer in the transaction.
