The two buildings will enable FLIR to expand its Commercial Systems Division's Central California operations, according to Steve Fedde, senior vice president in the Ventura Region of Sares-Regis Group. The two facilities acquired by FLIR are a 120,000-square-foot, low-rise R&D building and a 50,000-square-foot office building.

The two buildings, which can accommodate up to 510 workers, are among six existing buildings totaling 320,000 square feet of office and research and development facilities in the 92-acre Cabrillo Business Park. The buildings' addresses are 6769 and 6775 Hollister Ave.

FLIR and Sares-Regis were represented by Mark Mattingly of Pacifica Commercial Realty in Santa Barbara. Terms of the sale were not disclosed; Mattingly's research found the previous record transaction for an owner-occupied commercial property in the South Coast Region that includes Santa Barbara County was a 60,797-square-foot, $13.1 million build-to-suit purchase in Goleta by Yardi Systems in 2004.

Sares-Regis recently broke ground to develop a new 14-acre phase in the business park with 264,500 square feet of new commercial buildings. Cabrillo Business Park is planned for nine new two-story office buildings up to 80,000 square feet, two retail buildings and three self-storage facilities.

FLIR's local operations include engineering, product design, development, fabrication, manufacturing, assembly and sales and marketing of thermal cameras and imaging products for security, first-responder, automotive, marine, personal night vision, diagnostics and research-and development uses. Fedde notes that FLIR and other high-tech companies have located at Cabrillo Business Park both for the available engineering and technology talent in the area from the University of California at Santa Barbara and for the quality of life in the area.