QSC Audio Products LLC, a privately held maker of amplifiers, speakers and other sound systems that’s been in Orange County for more than 30 years, has bought the Costa Mesa building that it had been leasing for its headquarters.
The company, which has about $150 million in sales annually, paid an undisclosed amount for 1675 MacArthur Blvd., a 50,842-square-foot flex building located about a mile north of the San Diego (405) Freeway.
1675 MacArthur has 25,000 square feet of office space and about another 25,000 square feet of warehouse and manufacturing space.
The property was sold by Irvine-based LBA Realty, which picked up the building late last year as part of a larger OC industrial portfolio acquisition with Los Angeles-based Kilroy Realty Corp.
The company “was a logical buyer. The unique property is well-suited for its growing business and multi-facility operations in the Costa Mesa area,” said Wes Hunnicutt, senior managing director for the Newport Beach office of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, who represented the company in the purchase.
LBA Realty was represented in-house by Mike Johnson.
QSC Audio occupies more than 175,000 square feet in three Costa Mesa facilities, including an 85,000-square-foot warehouse next door to 1675 MacArthur that it leases.
The buyer got a $6.9 million loan to help finance the purchase, according to property records.
It had more than seven years left on its lease for 1675 MacArthur and had been paying more than $575,000 annually in rent for the property as of last year, according to regulatory filings.
Long Beach Lease
A former Boeing 717 aircraft manufacturing facility in Long Beach owned by Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group has found a new tenant in what’s being touted as the largest infill industrial lease in the L.A. area in more than 25 years.
Mercedes-Benz USA said this month it would lease about 1.1 million square feet at the 501 E. Conant St. facility across from the Long Beach Airport.
It was built in the 1950s and vacated in 2006. Mercedes-Benz is expected to move into the refurbished facility during the first quarter of next year.
The luxury carmaker hasn’t announced specific plans for the plant.
Local reports suggest the company will consolidate operations from other locations.
Sares-Regis and an undisclosed institutional investment partner bought the 52.2-acre site last year. They had been in discussions with the carmarker for nearly a year about a possible lease, according to brokers with CBRE Group Inc. who worked on the deal.
The site is next to a 260-acre mixed-use development site known as Pacific Pointe at Douglas Park.
Sares-Regis also owns a majority of that land and said its portion of Pacific Pointe could support an additional 3.2 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space.
Terms of the Mercedes lease weren’t disclosed. CBRE’s John Schumacher and Brian DeRevere represented Sares-Regis in the long-term deal.
Busier Bayview
S.K. Hart Properties LLC has added two good-sized tenants to its Bayview Corporate Center office complex on Jamboree Road.
The Salt Lake City-based owner, which paid a reported $53 million for the former Downey Financial headquarters complex in 2009, signed online video game company Sleepy Giant Entertainment Inc. and law firm Lee, Hong, Degerman, Kang & Waimey for a combined 37,500 square feet of space.
Sleepy Giant is leasing about 22,000 square feet and will occupy a full floor at Bayview. The privately held company, formed in 2007, is relocating from its current Fashion Island spot at 4 San Joaquin Plaza. It describes itself as a leading games-as-a-service provider for game developers and publishers and is backed by San Francisco-based private equity firm TPG Capital.
Lee, Hong, Degerman, Kang & Waimey will relocate from its current location, at 1920 Main St. in the Irvine Concourse, into about 15,500 square feet at Bayview.
The firm will be on the building’s top floor, which was previously occupied by a law firm and is already built out to accommodate many of the tenant’s requirements, according to brokers at CBRE Group who represent the building’s landlord.
A multimillion-dollar renovation project wrapped up at the two-building Bayview center last year. The 322,000-square-foot property is now about 70% full, according to brokerage data.
CBRE’s Jake Stickel, Carol Trapani and Jeff Morgan represented S.K. Hart in the two transactions.
