(Mark Your Calendars: RealShare Orange County, August 18 in Newport Beach).

IRVINE, CA-Hines and a subsidiary of a fund managed by Oaktree Capital Management have acquired the 100%-leased Alton Corporate Plaza office building from Legacy Partners Commercial Inc. The price was undisclosed, but sources say it's $32.4 million.

The property is a two-building, 205,267-square-foot office complex situated on a 9.55-acre site in the Irvine Business Complex in the Orange County Airport area. The tenant roster includes JP Morgan Chase with 62% of the space, along with the remainder occupied by Nexus IS and Source Interlink Magazine. Hines has assumed property management responsibilities on behalf of the joint venture.

Alton Corporate Plaza comprises 1733 Alton Parkway, which is a two-story, 77,549-square-foot building that was completed in 1972 and was renovated in 2008; and 1833 Alton Parkway, which is a two-story, 127,718-square-foot building that was completed in 1984. The seller of the complex was represented by HFF senior managing director Ryan Gallagher.

The deal is one of a number of office building sales in Orange County in recent weeks and months that illustrate how the office market investment sales environment there is changing. As detailed in an article on GlobeSt.com this week, other deals of late include the $50-million-plus sale of 3 MacArthur Pl. in Irvine, 2600 Michelson for $70 million and 7700 Irvine Center Dr. Among the factors cited in that GlobeSt.com article is that Orange County's 100-million-square-foot office market has started to recover, posting five straight quarters of positive absorption, according to a second-quarter report by CB Richard Ellis.

"The second quarter of 2011 showed further signs of the Orange County office market approaching stability as it extended its healthy performance from last quarter," the CBRE market report said. "Leasing activity has noticeably picked up and vacancy rates have consequently declined in response to five straight quarters of positive absorption."

At the same time leasing is picking up, "Construction in Orange County continued to remain minimal in the second quarter with no new construction on major office projects taking place," the CBRE report says. The uptick in leasing and absorption, however, has yet to produce any rent increases, CBRE's market report indicates.

Asking lease rates during the second quarter continued to decrease, marking the 14th consecutive quarter that the Orange County office market has recorded declining asking rates, CBRE points out. The average asking lease rate for Orange County dropped one cent in the second quarter to $1.95 per square foot in comparison with the first quarter. That change represented only a half of a percentage point decrease, which is the smallest change since rates began decreasing and "a good sign that asking rates in Orange County are beginning to stabilize," the CBRE report states.