SCI-Arc Campus, in Foreground

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

The Southern California Institute of Architecture has acquired its campus on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles for $23.1 million in today’s roundup of commercial real estate news in the West. Jamie Bennett, chief operating officer of SCI-Arc, tells GlobeSt.com that the company acquired the property directly from Legendary Investors Group, which took over control of a group of properties formerly owned by Downtown L.A-based Meruelo Maddux Partners, which is in bankruptcy. The property includes the approximately 90,000-square-foot original Santa Fe Freight Depot building constructed in 1907, located on a 4.5-acre lot stretching along Santa Fe Avenue from Third Street to Fourth Street. Bennett tells GlobeSt.com that the school’s mortgage payment will be less than the rent it was paying on the property, which becomes the first permanent SCI-Arc home in its 39-year history. SCI-Arc director Eric Owen Moss said in an announcement regarding the acquisition that SCI-Arc “has been a vagabond school for almost forty years.” The announcement describes the acquisition as “a key moment in the economic stability of an underdeveloped area of the city—the eastern edge of Downtown.” By owning its campus, SCI-Arc says, it “becomes a permanent player with a significant stake and role in the long-term revitalization of the area—the third major redevelopment zone in Downtown Los Angeles along with L.A. Live and Grand Avenue.” SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 by a group of seven faculty members and approximately 40 students who left Cal Poly Pomona to create a “college without walls.” It occupied previous locations in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey, then started renting the Santa Fe freight depot in 2001. The SCI-Arc building, designed by architect Harrison Albright, at 1,250 feet in length would be as tall as the Empire State Building if upended. It was originally one of two parallel 1,250-foot long twin structures, one of which was demolished in the 1990s. The renovation of the remaining structure was designed by SCI-Arc alumnus and then faculty member Gary Paige of GPS Studio, in collaboration with SCI-Arc faculty, alumni and students.

Bridgeport Marketplace

Madison International Realty has acquired a 50% interest in Bridgeport Marketplace, a 126,769-square-foot mixed-use grocery-anchored retail center at the intersection of Newhall Ranch Road and McBean Parkway in Valencia that is 94.5% leased, for approximately $10 million. Developed in 2008, the center comprises 97,786 square feet of retail and a 28,953-square-foot medical office component that is long-term leased to the Southern California Orthopedic Institute. It is anchored by Valley Produce Market, Walgreen’s and California Pizza Kitchen. Ronald Dickerman, Madison founder and president, commented in an announcement that Bridgeport Marketplace “fits precisely into our strategy of acquiring partial ownership interests in class A assets from existing investors seeking an early exit.”

ORANGE COUNTY

Orange Elden Complex

Arrimus Multifamily Capital LLC /CT California Fund VI of Irvine and Aliso Viejo has acquired the 21-unit Orange Elden Apartments at 2151 Orange Ave. and 2152-2160 Elden Ave. in Costa Mesa from the Laguna Beach-based successor trustee for the estate of the original owner/developer for $3.275 million. The units were built between 1957 and 1974 and never before were offered for sale, according to Steven C. Brombal and Peter Hauser of the Newport Beach office of Hendricks & Partners, who represented both parties in the sale. The property improvements are on two separate legal adjacent parcels totaling approximately 50,608 square feet and could be sold separately in the future, according to Brombal and Hauser. They said that the property, which generated five written offers, enjoys a prime Eastside location and represented “a rare opportunity to acquire a property of this size within the Eastside submarket” because of “amenities rarely found in this submarket,” such as large units, huge yards/patios in some units, vaulted ceilings and superior off-street parking.