AEW Buys 308,000 SF for $33M

FOOTHILL RANCH, CA-AEW Capital Management has acquired a 307,781-sf industrial building at 50 Icon from Northeast Mutual Life on behalf of an AEW institutional client for $32.5 million, according to Voit Commercial Brokerage. Louis Tomaselli of the Anaheim Metro office of Voit reports that the property is 100% leased to two tenants, hardware supplier Hampton Products and shipping products distributor Uline.Tomaselli and Mitch Zehner of Voit's Anaheim Metro office, along with Trent Walker of Voit's Irvine office, represented the buyer and the seller. Scott Holmes, VP of acquisitions for AEW, points out that the company has acquired several office and industrial properties in the area because of the potential that the investment advisory firm sees here.The 50 Icon building serves as the corporate headquarters for Hampton Products, which supplies a range of residential hardware, lighting and travel security products. Hampton occupies 160,000 sf of the building, with Uline in the remainder.The AEW purchase reflects what Tomaselli describes as the continuing interest in investment properties among institutional and individual investors and owner-users in Orange County. AEW's Holmes says the company likes the OC market because the county is expected to enjoy substantial rent growth throughout the next few years.A year-end report by Voit showed that the average asking selling price for all industrial buildings sold in the last quarter of 2005 was $129.17 per sf, an increase of almost 16% over the past year. The Voit report also showed that the average asking lease rate for industrial space in Orange County rose to 61 cents in 2005, within a penny of the all-time high that was set in late 2000.