$35M Buys 50% Interest in Office Complex

NEWPORT BEACH, CA-An Orange County-based private investor has acquired a 50% interest in the 269,150-sf Commerce Plaza office complex, according to Voit Commercial Brokerage. The office development occupies a site of nearly 17 acres and spans an entire block bordered by Westerly Place, Birch, Dove and Quail streets.

The owners completed extensive renovations to the exterior and interior areas of the 34-year-old property three years ago, notes Al Pekarcik, an SVP in the Irvine office of Voit Commercial Brokerage. Pekarcik represented seller, Commerce Business Point LLC, along with fellow Voit brokers Dan Vittone and Rob Mitchell.

The Commerce Plaza property includes single-tenant and multi-tenant buildings with space ranging from 250 sf to 16,000 sf at 1801 and 1901 Dove St., 3900-4120 Birch St., 1800 and 1900 Quail St. and 3901-4121 Westerly Place. The complex was approximately 73% leased at the time of the sale.

Commerce Business Point LLC acquired its interest in the property in 2003. It bought the interest from a Mitsui entity called MRES American Fund 90, with Pekarcik, Vittone and Mitchell representing Commerce Business Point. In that 2003 transaction, Michael Kane and Bob Smith of the Newport Beach office of CB Richard Ellis represented MRES American Fund 90.

The Commerce Plaza deal was the latest to underscore the investor demand for office product in Orange County, which has been setting new sales and lease rates lately, according to Voit Commercial research reports. In another deal brokered by the Voit Commercial Irvine office, for example, software development firm PDSI paid $4.1 million for a 14,000-sf Irvine office building that will serve as the company’s new corporate headquarters.

PDSI, which develops software for police and fire departments, expects to relocate its headquarters from the City of Orange into the newly acquired building at 50 Corporate Park in December, according to John Collins of Voit Commercial Brokerage’s Irvine office. Collins and fellow Voit broker Ewan Choate represented PDSI.

The seller of the 50 Corporate Park building was Sho-Air, which was represented by Karen Sunday of Karen Sunday & Associates. Sho-Air plans to relocate its headquarters to a larger facility in Huntington Beach.