Eclipse Development Group, an Irvine-based company that focuses on retail and mixed-use redevelopment projects in challenging locations, has its eyes on a notable waterfront project near Portland, Ore.
Eclipse recently signed a purchase agreement for a 23-acre mill site next to the Willamette River in Oregon City, about 10 miles south of downtown Portland.
The property, known as the Blue Heron Mill site, is described in local reports as Oregon’s first industrial development. A sawmill was built at the site in the 1820s, decades before Oregon became a state.
The property, which overlooks a waterfall, has held a variety of lumber, flour and grist mills since then.
It’s been shuttered since 2011, when the Blue Heron Paper Co., which filed for bankruptcy a few years earlier, opted to liquidate the company and closed the mill.
Eclipse is said to be considering building a mix of office, retail and residential uses on the site but hasn’t released details.
Officials told local newspapers that the company is planning a “pedestrian-friendly extension of downtown” Oregon City that highlights the Willamette River and the waterfall. A hefty amount of environmental cleanup work is likely needed before the project can move ahead.
Filings in Oregon’s federal bankruptcy court show the developer making a $4.1 million bid for the property.
The bid is subject to higher offers; a court hearing on the sale is expected in late August.
Eclipse was formed in 2002 and is headed by Chief Executive Douglas Gray, a one-time retail broker for Sperry Van Ness.
The company’s marketing materials say Eclipse specializes “in the development/redevelopment of infill sites that have stymied other developers.”
In Southern California, it’s worked on a 162-acre redevelopment of a former aerospace property in Downey and the creation of a 375,000-square-foot retail center in West Covina, among other projects.
Eclipse is at least the second Orange County real estate company that has considered a one-time mill site in Oregon for redevelopment.
Costa Mesa-based Lab Holding LLC, developer of the Lab and Camp shopping centers, attempted to turn Centennial Mills, a historic waterfront mill and warehouse in Portland, into a mixed-use project. But it didn’t get the project off the ground.
Lab Holding ended up in litigation with the city’s redevelopment agency after the development plan fell apart; local reports said the case was settled this year, with Lab Holding paid about $1 million to cover some of its expenses.
Detroit Sale
Newport Beach-based real estate investor Hager Pacific Properties has sold off a majority of its industrial assets in Detroit to its largest tenant in the city.
The value-added investor said it sold Gateway Industrial Center, a 12-building industrial complex that totals about 1.2 million square feet, to Detroit Manufacturing Systems, which makes automobile interiors.
DMS was already a tenant on a portion of the 70-acre property. It signed a 15-year lease for nearly 300,000 square feet at the center about a year ago and had an option to expand to up to 480,000 square feet. The company does injection molding, assembly work, manufacturing, warehouse and distribution at the facility.
The deal brought the property’s occupancy close to 96%, according to brokerage reports.
The sale of the property, at 12601 Southfield Drive, was reported to be about $19 million.
Hager Pacific reported paying about $13 million for the property in 2005 in an all-cash deal.
Legal Relocation
Law firm Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP has moved its Orange County office from Santa Ana to Irvine.
The L.A.-based firm, which has 12 attorneys and nine staff members in its OC office, recently signed a 9,322-square-foot lease for 2050 Main Street, a 13-story office in the Irvine Concourse office campus.
The firm represents businesses in a variety of practice areas, including real estate, bankruptcy, collections, product liability, general liability, construction law and insurance law. It had been in the Griffin Towers office campus in Santa Ana.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Darren Eades, Curtis Ellmore and Ryan Hawkins represented Haight in the lease, while CBRE Group Inc. represented the landlord, AEW Global.
Boston-based AEW paid about $108.5 million for 2050 Main in late 2011.
