Chapman University in Orange has completed the purchase of a third office in the Irvine Spectrum that it will use to house the school’s new graduate health sciences programs.
The school last month finalized the purchase of 9701 Jeronimo Road, a nearly 129,000-square-foot office near the intersection of Bake Parkway and Jeronimo.
An affiliate of Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. sold the building, which is largely occupied by Unisys. The information technology company is expected to depart the building next year, according to CoStar Group Inc. records.
Terms of the sale haven’t been disclosed. The building was assessed at a value of $20.8 million last year.
Chapman officials said earlier this year that they planned to buy it for future expansion. The school plans to continue leasing out the building for a few years until converting it to school uses.
In 2012, Chapman bought a two-building office campus just down the street at 9401 and 9501 Jeronimo for a reported $20 million. The school has since spent millions more renovating the 166,413-square-foot property, which is opening this year and will hold its new Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus.
The Irvine campus marks the first time Chapman has expanded outside its main campus in Orange.
Pacific City Loans
DJM Capital Partners Inc. in San Jose has lined up $93 million in financing for the retail portion of the 31-acre Pacific City development in Huntington Beach.
Los Angeles-based commercial real estate investment banking firm George Smith Partners arranged the financing, which includes a $56.5 million senior loan and a $37 million mezzanine loan.
The nonrecourse financing represents 70% of the project’s cost, according to George Smith Partners.
Construction of a 191,000-square-foot retail center and an accompanying underground parking structure is under way, and the project is scheduled to open next year. An Equinox gym is the largest tenant announced so far for the shopping center.
DJM took over ownership of the retail portion of the development about 18 months ago.
Lake Forest Land
A unit of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Meritage Homes Corp. has reached a deal to buy nearly 6 acres next to the Baker Ranch development in Lake Forest.
The company signed a purchase and sales agreement to buy the property at 25192 Commercentre Drive for $5.7 million, or about $1 million an acre.
Meritage’s California division has until September 2015 to complete the sale, according to the agreement.
BDJ Lake Forest Associates LP, an entity managed by Davis Partners in Newport Beach, currently owns the land.
The builder’s housing plans for the site haven’t been disclosed. The land is near the intersection of Alton Parkway and Commercentre Drive, just west of the 372-acre Baker Ranch development, which is slated to hold close to 1,800 homes and more than 400 apartments when built out.
The deal would mark the second site in Orange County where Meritage is building. It’s also part of the first batch of development at Rancho Mission Viejo’s Sendero community.
Chicago Financing
Irvine Company’s impending $850 million purchase of the 300 N. LaSalle skyscraper in Chicago won’t be entirely funded by cash.
Bank of America is lending $475 million for the acquisition of the 60-story tower, according to a report in trade publication Commercial Mortgage Alert.
It’s unknown whether Irvine Co. will place more debt on the office to fund its acquisition. An affiliate of Newport Beach-based KBS Realty Advisors is selling the tower to Irvine Co. in a deal struck in May that should close any day now.
Closer to home, Irvine Co. recently arranged at least one smaller financing deal for local properties it owns. The real estate company, OC’s largest apartment owner, last month got a $41 million loan for its Woodbridge Pines apartment complex, according to property records.
That loan works out to about $186,000 of debt for each apartment at the 220-unit complex, which is near the intersection of Culver Drive and Barranca Parkway in Irvine.
