Birtcher Buys Partner's Stake in $20M Industrial Park

TUSTIN, CA-Birtcher Development & Investments of Irvine has secured $20 million in refinancing for the 157,000-sf Tustin Business Park and has bought out capital partner Hanover Financial Co. to become the sole owner of the industrial park in the John Wayne airport submarket. The property is at the southwest corner of Franklin and Walnut avenues.Birtcher secured the 10-year loan through JP Morgan at a blended rate of under 6%, according to Brandon Birtcher, sole owner of Birtcher Development & Investments. He notes that Birtcher is currently "very active" in looking for multi-tenant incubator industrial parks like the Tustin property.Birtcher Development & Investments and Hanover Financial Co. acquired the property in 2003 from a private investment group. The 11 multi-tenant industrial buildings range from 10,000 sf to 20,000 sf, each housing between 10 and 20 tenants. The park is fully occupied and is home to approximately 100 tenants.At the time Birtcher and Hanover acquired the project in 2003, GlobeSt.com reported that the selling entity had owned the property since its original construction in 1976. It said that the Birtcher-Hanover venture planned exterior renovations to the buildings, which are of single-story, concrete tilt-up construction.Birtcher's other current Southern California developments include South Coast Home Furnishing Centre, a 300,000-sf retail destination under way in Costa Mesa that will be one of the largest collections of home furnishings retailers in Southern California and Birtcher Commerce Center Paramount, a 594,000-sf distribution center in Paramount. Birtcher, which was founded in 1939, has developed more than 50 million sf of office, industrial and retail projects throughout the Western US.