Maguire REIT Buys $215M Park Place

The Park Place complex lies along the San Diego Freeway at Jamboree Road and Michelson Drive near the John Wayne Airport and South Coast Plaza shopping center. Besides existing office, retail and parking structures, Maguire's purchase includes entitlement rights that could expand the development to five million sf of office, retail, residential and other uses upon completion. Maguire represented itself in the acquisition, in which Crow Orange County Management Co. Inc. represented the sellers.

Robert F. Maguire III, chairman and co-chief executive officer of Maguire Properties, notes that the property is one of the most prominently placed office developments in Orange County, visible from the San Diego Freeway and many nearby surface streets. Crow Development acquired the land portion of Park Place in 1985 at the same time an 1.8-million-sf office building, now known as the Park Place Office Campus, was sold by Fluor Corp. William H. Lane, Jr., the managing partner of the general partner of Crow Development and president of its management company, describes the complex as "truly a one-of-a-kind property."

Maguire's latest purchase includes a six-story office building at 3121 Michelson Dr. totaling 147,000 sf, the 170,000-sf Shops at Park Place, two parking structures with 1,400 spaces and surface parking for 4,000 cars, and a 20-year development agreement for an additional two million sf of retail and restaurant space, a health club, a 410,000-sf hotel (308 rooms) and an additional 1.5 million sf of office space, plus residential development.

The adjacent property that Maguire bought in April was the Park Place office campus, located on 15 acres, which features one 10-story office tower, six four-story office buildings and a concourse building. The office campus totals approximately 1.8 million sf and is 96% leased.