Western Realco Buys Leased 183,000 SF for $19M
By Bob Howard, Globest.com
Issue Date: 7/7/11

Western Realco of Newport Beach has acquired a 183,000-square-foot industrial building at 16700 Red Hill Ave. in the Irvine Business Complex for more than $19 million and plans to build additional space on the site. Western Realco principal Gary Edwards explains that the 13-acre property includes an additional 3.5 acres of land available for development and that Western Realco plans to construct two additional industrial buildings for sale or lease. The company also plans to renovate the existing building and put it up for sale once existing leases expire. "Together with the Irvine property, we are working on three speculative development projects," Edwards says. "The company will continue to seek strategic, value-add industrial opportunities to take advantage of the strengthening real estate fundamentals in Southern California." Western Realco LLC purchased the property from OE Holdings Inc., which was represented by the Grubb & Ellis team of SVPs Gary Allen and Robert Griffith, along with associate Steve Ward. Grubb & Ellis worked in conjunction with Michael Hartel and Joe Winkelmann of Voit Real Estate Services' Irvine office to represent Western Realco. The Voit brokers report that vacant land for development in the Irvine Business Complex is scarce. Edwards said that the acquisition of the 183,000-square-foot building "illustrates our continued efforts to find quality real estate in Southern California." Built in 1968 and last refurbished in 2000, it offers abundant corporate office, high tech assembly and warehouse space, he noted. The building is 97% leased to multiple tenants, including Kulicke & Soffa and Liquid Graphics, through 2014. Allen noted that 16700 Red Hill Ave. "attracted a number of interested institutional investors, being one of the few large corporate industrial facilities in Irvine that also has expansion and development potential." The sale was the second largest industrial acquisition transaction in the Orange County airport area submarket year-to-date, Voit noted, citing CoStar data.