Maguire Sells $40M Parcel for High-Rise Condos

IRVINE, CA-Maguire Properties has closed on its $40-million sale of a site at the Los Angeles-based REIT's Park Place development where Canada's Bosa Development will construct four 18-story condominium towers totaling 566 units. Nat Bosa, president of Bosa, tells GlobeSt.com that the development firm hopes to begin construction of the first of the towers by May 2006.Bosa tells GlobeSt.com that construction of the 176-unit first tower will take about 20 months and that the second phase of the project could include two of the remaining towers or all three, depending on market demand. Bosa, based in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia, is the developer of a 232-unit high-rise project at Park Place called the Marquee that is already sold out.The four new Bosa towers will offer amenities comparable to those of the Marquee, which consists of two 18-story towers featuring a pool, a garden a fitness facility, a 24-hour concierge and a host of other amenities. The units at the new towers will average about 1,650 sf each, Bosa says, or about 10% larger than the units at the Marquee.The sale of the land to Bosa leaves Maguire with property at the 105-acre Park Place mixed-use campus that is still entitled for 850 residential units, which Maguire says it plans to sell or develop in a joint venture. Rob Maguire, chairman and co-chief executive of the REIT notes that the 232-unit Marquee was "enormously well received."Maguire called the Marquee "the catalyst for the urban living phenomenon taking hold in Orange County." He says that his company has received "extraordinary interest" from national residential builders interested in either buying or joint venturing the additional 850 residential units.Park Place, which will comprise up to five million sf of office, retail, residential and other uses upon completion, is adjacent to the San Diego Freeway at Jamboree Road and Michelson Drive. Maguire Properties, which is the largest owner and operator of class A office properties in the Los Angeles central business district, has invested heavily in Park Place and other Orange County assets in recent years as the REIT expands its geographic reach.