AEW Pays $53M for Office Park

The Newport Beach-based real estate investment bank's Investment Sales Group represented Pacifica Real Estate Group and Investcorp in the disposition of the property to AEW, according to G. Ryan Smith of Buchanan Street.Lakehills Corporate Park is a 233,172-sf low-rise suburban office campus, built in 1988 and 1999, that consists of buildings ranging from approximately 12,000 sf to 54,000 sf and was about 91% leased at the time of the sale. The property attracted several serious bids, according to Smith, who says that AEW provided the top offer supported by its record of past transactions with the seller and a willingness to close quickly. An important part of the property's appeal to prospective buyers, Smith notes, was its location just south of the junction of the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways interchange, close to the Irvine Spectrum Retail Center, John Wayne Airport and the Laguna Woods Golf Club.Although the Buchanan Street Partners Investment Sales Group has brokered previous deals of multifamily properties, the Lakehills transaction marks the first time the group has closed on an office sale. Buchanan Street Partners added the Investment Sales Group at the end of 2004 and since Jan. 1 the group has completed transactions valued in excess of $225 million.The Lakehills purchase expands an AEW portfolio of Southern California holdings that includes the 344-unit Woodcreek Apartments in Temecula that the Boston-based investment advisory firm acquired for $32.2 million last fall in a joint venture with the Irvine-based Bascom Group on behalf of one of AEW's institutional clients.