IRVINE, CA-Voit Development Co. and Buchanan Street Partners have acquired a 428,000-sf warehouse and data center in a joint venture that plans to offer 303,000 sf of the building for lease. The off-market sale of the property, which is at Von Karman Avenue and Main Street in the Irvine Business Complex, is believed to be the largest industrial acquisition in Orange County this year.
Buchanan Street Partners invested $14 million in joint venture equity with Voit, with Wells Fargo Bank providing the debt for the acquisition. The partners plans to offer the 303,000 sf either to a single tenant or up to three tenants, depending on market demand.
Some 126,000 sf of the newly acquired building consists of a data center, making it one of the only major data center facilities of its kind in Orange County. The next closest large data centers are located in Downtown Los Angeles and El Segundo.
James V. Camp, senior vice president of development and acquisitions for Voit Development Co., describes the acquisition as a value-add play for the firm in light of the limited availability of big blocks of industrial warehouse space in Orange County. Finding an industrial space of this size in the Irvine Business Complex, "is virtually impossible in today's market," Camp says.
The property includes 3.5 acres of excess land, allowing for the prospect of expansion or additional development, Camp notes. The partnership plans to complete minor capital improvements to renovate the building and upgrade the interior.
Savvis Inc. leases the 126,000-sf data center to provide off-site data storage and backup computer systems for its clients. Savvis operates approximately 80,000 sf of climate-controlled raised computer floor space in its leased space for its operations and leases out smaller portions of this space to Fortune 500 companies for data center management.
The new owners bought the property from Nexus Windstar, a real estate development firm that operates from La Jolla and San Jose, which had owned the building since 2000. Nexus leased the building to Exodus Communications, which spent $45 million on capital improvements into the data center portion of the property.
Both the buyers and the seller were represented by SVP Trent Walker of the Irvine office of Voit Commercial Brokerage. Walker also drew the listing assignment for the remaining space available for lease.
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