RESIDENTIAL
City Ventures LLC, a Santa Ana-based builder that began operations earlier this year, is ramping up work with plans for a big project near its headquarters.
The company is part of a development team that the city of Santa Ana selected last month to revitalize a stretch of land on Santa Ana Boulevard, said Craig Atkins, City Ventures’ cofounder.
The city hopes the developers can turn the corridor—consisting of 48 largely vacant lots—into a gateway for Santa Ana, featuring homes, apartments and shops.
The Station District project, which is near Santa Ana’s train station, is being headed up by two lead managers: Related Cos. of New York and Laguna Beach-based Griffin Realty. City Ventures is set to handle housing at the project, while Related would manage apartment construction.
Shaheen Sadeghi, developer of Costa Mesa’s The Lab and The Camp, is set to head up any retail development at the Station District. Other members of the team include William Hezmalhalch Architects and Fuscoe Engineering Inc., according to city documents.
The exact amount of construction or a time frame for the project hasn’t been determined. Last month’s predevelopment agreement gives the companies the first right to buy and develop the properties from the city.
The group was selected from four finalists after nine development teams responded to the city’s initial request.
The city of Santa Ana paid close to $19 million for the land during the past 10 years.
It’s one more piece of business that City Ventures has picked up as of late, according to Atkins, the cofounder of defunct land brokerage O’Donnell/Atkins Co.
His partner in City Ventures is Mark Buckland, previously the president and chief operating officer for Seal Beach-based homebuilder Olson Co.
Outside OC, City Ventures just closed on a land deal in San Diego County’s Scripps Ranch, where it paid $4 million for 19 finished lots. Costa Mesa-based Warmington Homes California, part of Warmington Group, was the seller.
City Ventures is planning to begin construction at the site early next month. Homes there will run about $800,000, according to Atkins.
The deal was closed using all cash, and construction for the project largely will be funded the same way, according to Atkins. While debt is available, the cost of borrowing is too high for builders right now, he said.
The company’s first project was an infill location in Yorba Linda where about 50 homes are planned. Entitlement issues still are being worked on at the site, according to Atkins. It also is working on a project in Encinitas.
The company, which has offices in Los Angeles and San Diego, is looking to open another in Northern California.
Advanced Acquisition
Lake Forest-based Advanced Real Estate Services Inc., one of the largest apartment owners based in OC, has added a Santa Ana complex to its portfolio.
The company recently bought the 196-unit Court at Artists Village apartment complex at 301 W. Second St. The 4-story project includes 90 two-bedroom units, 106 one-bedroom units and 12,200 square feet of retail space.
The sales price was about $25 million, or about $120,000 per apartment.
A partnership of Blackrock Realty, part of BlackRock Inc., and a Los Angeles-based private investor sold the property, according to brokers from Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc.’s Los Angeles office who worked on the deal.
The Newport Beach office of Minneapolis-based NorthMarq Capital Inc. arranged financing: a 10-year, 80% loan-to-value deal with a 5.98% interest rate from Freddie Mac.
Advanced Real Estate now owns about 6,000 apartments in Southern California.
COMMERCIAL
Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. said that its second real estate investment trust, which focuses on healthcare properties, was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II Inc. is looking to raise up to $3.3 billion from investors after filing plans with the SEC in March.
The company plans to use the money it raises to buy medical office buildings and other healthcare-related facilities.
The first healthcare fund the company sponsored, recently renamed as Healthcare Trust of America Inc., is now run out of Arizona by Grubb former chief executive Scott Peters.
Name Change
In June, I wrote a cover story on the venture being started up by Paul Marshall, the former president of Opus West Corp.’s Southern California operations.
The story said that the company, which will work with private and institutional investors to buy, manage and reposition distressed properties, was set to be called Sequoia Property & Development.
The company’s still a go, but now it has a different name: Marshall Property & Development LLC.
