50,000-SF BoA Building Marked for Change

Gil Marrero of Voit Commercial Brokerage's Irvine office, tells GlobeSt.com that Caribou bought the 50,000-sf property at 801 N. Main St. in Downtown Santa Ana from First States Investors 1000 LLC, the real estate disposition arm of Bank of America, for $2.8 million. Marrero, who represented the buyer and the seller, says Caribou plans to convert the former bank building into the Santa Ana Performing Arts Pavilion, a 500-seat entertainment venue.

The building has been empty for the past four months. Before BoA vacated, it served as the Orange County main branch for nearly 50 years. The building is in the hub of the city's downtown redevelopment district. Marrero says the bank's high ceilings and configuration make it especially suitable to be easily adapted into a theater for concerts and other events. He says the design of the performing arts pavilion will preserve the building's historical elements and 1950s-style architecture.

Marrero notes Michael Harrah, Caribou's president, has been instrumental in other revitalization and redevelopment efforts in Santa Ana, where the company owns and manages more than two million sf of office space. Among other projects, Caribou renovated the dilapidated Santa Ana Masonic Temple into a multi-purpose community venue and converted old office buildings into the Orange County High School of the Arts.