The Uptown Newport mixed-use development on Jamboree Road is preparing for its first major round of construction following a few changes in ownership for the high-visibility Newport Beach project.
Irvine-based developer Shopoff Group last month completed a pair of transactions for the 25-acre Uptown Newport site next to the two 10-story buildings at the 4000 MacArthur office complex.
Shopoff bought out the interest of its former partner, New York-based DRA Advisors LLC, in the first deal, according to the developer’s chief executive, Bill Shopoff.
A venture between Shopoff Group and DRA Advisors paid Irvine-based chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc., whose headquarters were previously at the 4000 MacArthur complex, a reported $23.5 million for the land in late 2010.
The partnership got approvals from the city of Newport Beach for the 1,244-home development last year. The project will be built in two phases and is slated to have a mix of townhomes and midrise and high-rise apartments and condos, in addition to about 11,500 square feet of retail space.
The project is one of largest residential developments on the books in the city.
Terms of the latest deal between Shopoff and DRA weren’t disclosed.
Shopoff, in the second recent transaction, entered into a venture with San Juan Capistrano-based apartment developer Picerne Group to co-develop a portion of the first phase of development at Uptown Newport, a 483-unit apartment project.
The first major batch of work related to the Shopoff-Picerne apartment project will begin in full in a few weeks, Bill Shopoff said.
The demolition of one of the larger structures on the project site, a 127,000-square-foot office building at 4311 Jamboree Road known as the Half-Dome building, is slated for April, he said.
The plan is for the Shopoff-Picerne venture to hold on to its apartment project “forever,” but other land will be sold, Shopoff said.
Land that will hold the first batch of for-sale condos at Uptown Newport is being shopped to prospective homebuilders, while Shopoff is holding onto the land for the second phase of development for the time being.
TowerJazz operates out of buildings that would have to make way for the second phase of development at Uptown Newport. It has a lease that will keep it there for at least the next few years.
Bayside Sale
A two-building office property on Bayside Drive at the entrance to Balboa Island is for sale for an eye-catching price.
Bayside Square, which totals about 35,384 square feet and is occupied by office and medical tenants, recently was listed for sale and is expected to fetch a price in excess of $28 million, or nearly $800 per square foot.
The waterfront property is at 1101 and 1111 Bayside Drive and sits next to the bridge that leads onto Balboa Island.
Its current owner, a Nevada-based entity listed in property records as ECM Bayside LLC, paid about $12.6 million for the property in mid-2011, when it was about 50% occupied and prior ownership was reportedly dealing with bankruptcy issues. The two-story buildings are now about 80% leased.
The property is being marketed for sale by the Irvine office of Stream Realty Partners in conjunction with Ron Pelleg, a Los Angeles-based investment broker.
Retail Switch
JH Real Estate Partners, a Newport Beach-based real estate investor best known for its apartment investments, is now on the hunt for retail properties.
In January, the company paid $35 million for the 125,661-square-foot San Carlos Shopping Center just off the 125 Freeway in the Lake Murray section of San Diego. The deal, made with a venture headed by Pennsylvania-based Stoltz Management Co., works out to roughly $279 per square foot.
The center is 81% leased and has a Walgreens and an LA Fitness among its main tenants.
JH Real Estate said late last month that it plans significant renovations to the center and that it hired Cassidy Turley as the leasing broker for the property.
A bulk of the company’s nearly $1 billion in investments over the past 25 years or so have been for apartments, but JH Real Estate said it has recently shifted its strategy to focus primarily on acquiring retail properties.
The company said its goal is to buy upward of 2 million square feet of shopping centers in California over the next three years.
