Bacchus Sells Out 331,000-SF Development

IRVINE, CA-Bacchus Development has sold the last of the units at its 331,000-square-foot Bacchus Office Park and is recording steady sales at two other projects in Irvine. Michael Vukovich of the Irvine-based development firm tells GlobeSt.com that with the closing out of Bacchus Office Park, the company has now developed more than one million square feet over the past five years at five projects in the Irvine Spectrum.

Prices for the Bacchus Office Park buildings averaged $413 per square foot on a shell basis, according to Vukovich, who tells GlobeSt.com that despite a general slowing in the pace of sales because of the economic slump, the number of prospective buyers has been increasing lately at the other two properties that Bacchus is marketing. The other two projects are the 338,000-square-foot Jeffrey Office Park and the 266,000-square-foot Bacchus Signature Series.

The Jeffrey Office Park buildings are selling for an average of about $480 per square foot and the Signature buildings for about $325 per square foot. Vukovich explains that the Jeffrey buildings are commanding higher prices because they project is zoned for 100% office buildings and is attracting buyers like accountants, lawyers, a music school and other office users. The Signature buildings are closer to R&D product and are targeted toward design professionals, architects, engineers, real estate development companies, marketing companies and the like. The Jeffrey project is about 65% sold out and the Signature Series is between 55% and 60% sold out.

The Bacchus projects have all been for-sale product, with buildings ranging from approximately 5,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. The Bacchus Office Park, for example, consists of 39 buildings comprising 79 units on a 22-acre site, including 42 condo units there ranging from 1,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet.

The Jeffrey Office Park consists of 50 buildings in sizes ranging from 4,950 square feet to 20,000 square feet on 23 acres. The 18.5-acre Bacchus Signature project is 40 buildings in three sizes: 4,950 square feet, 6,000 square feet and 9,800 square feet.

All of the buyers at the Bacchus developments have been owner-users. Vukovich describes them as “small, healthy businesses,” many of them buying with SBA financing. Bacchus handles its sales in-house, with Vukovich, Jeffery John Bitetti and Tibor Kelemen negotiating the deals.

Vukovich attributes the firm’s continued sales to “having a good product in a great location” in the Irvine Spectrum. He says the level of activity from prospective buyers slowed a few months ago but has picked up significantly in recent weeks.

Bacchus is “concentrating on absorbing what we have in our pipeline” for now, Vukovich says, but the company is looking at a couple of other pieces of land in the Irvine Spectrum as potential sites for future projects. “We think there are going to be great opportunities here in the coming years,” he says.