Grocery store chain Albertsons is looking to sell a Fullerton office building that has served as its Southern California division headquarters for more than a decade, with plans to vacate the building.
The company, owned by Eden Prairie, Minn.-based grocery store chain operator SuperValue Inc., listed for sale a two-story building located at 1421 S. Manhattan Ave. The 131,250-square-foot building has an asking price of a little under $11.7 million, or about $89 per square foot.
The property, located near the intersection of the Riverside (91) and Orange (57) freeways, is being marketed to prospective investors as an owner-user opportunity.
The property would be “delivered vacant upon sale,” according to marketing materials from the Irvine office of Jones Lang LaSalle, whose brokers have the listing for the building.
Albertsons, which has announced numerous area layoffs and store closures in recent months, plans to find a smaller location in the area for it’s slimmed-down operations, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Senior Vice President Andy White.
The company bought the building in 2000 for about $10 million. The property previously was owned and used by Palo Alto-based computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co.
Albertsons moved more than 400 employees from a location in Buena Park to the Fullerton property after buying it and put more than $2 million in upgrades to the 30-year-old property.
The nearly 8-acre site has served as Albertson’s Southern California division headquarters, housing corporate offices and a support center.
Amenities
Amenities at the building include a two-story entrance, multiple training and conference rooms, and a professional cafeteria. The site has enough parking to accommodate more than 600 employees, according to marketing materials for the Manhattan Avenue building.
A sale of the property would be latest cost-cutting move in the area made by Albertsons, which was bought by SuperValue in 2006.
The company in June announced plans to lay off between 2,200 and 2,500 workers across its 247 Southern California stores.
The moves were a “necessary step for us to take to help improve our business and accelerate our turnaround,” Albertsons Southern California President Dan Sanders said in a statement at the time.
Albertsons operated 29 stores in OC at the time of the June announcement.
SuperValue said this month it will shut 18 “underperforming” Albertsons in Southern California including stores in Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton and Garden Grove. Most of the closures are expected to take place by December.
The Garden Grove closure will result in 61 lost jobs, according to state employment filings. Details for the other three closures haven’t been disclosed.
A sale of the Fullerton property would be one of the larger transactions seen in North Orange County’s office market in recent months.
Saturn Business Park
A partnership headed up by Newport Beach’s Koll Co. bought the Saturn Business Park, a 121,000-square-foot multi-tenant office along East Imperial Highway in Brea, in a $10.8 million deal in June.
The Brea property was bought out of receivership and traded hands for about $89 per square foot. Koll is working to lease up the office, which is about 60% occupied.
