Two Office, Industrial Buyers Invest $43M

City Ventures is due to acquire the land and buildings from Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems in a deal brokered by Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets. The land, adjacent to the Conexant headquarters, includes two fully leased buildings: One is a 311,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and the other a 126,000-square-foot office building.

Conexant is a supplier of semiconductors for imaging, audio, embedded modem and video surveillance applications. Scott Mercer, Conexant's chairman and CEO, says that the pending sale of the Newport Beach property reflects the company's strategy of monetizing non-core assets in order to improve its balance sheet.

In the Buena Park transaction, Grubb & Ellis Co. reports that 6545 Caballero Blvd. LLC sold a 167,217-square-foot industrial building at 6545 Caballero Blvd. to BP Westport Properties LLC of Buena Park. The buyer assumed the existing debt on the property and paid cash for the balance of the purchase price, according to EVP Jeff Read and VP Greg Osborne of Grubb & Ellis, who represented the seller.

Read says that the most challenging aspect of the deal was working through the loan-assumption process, which required the buyer and the seller to satisfy stringent requirements involved in assuming CMBS financing.

Built in 2003, 6545 Caballero Blvd. is a freestanding industrial building located in the Commerce Centre at Buena Park near the intersection of the Artesia/Riverside (91) Freeway and Interstate 5.  Situated on approximately 7.1 acres of land, the property includes a 20,000-square-foot two-story office area. While the property was 100% leased at the time of sale, the buyer anticipates taking occupancy of the premises in the summer of this year. Buyer Westport Properties was represented by Jay Jasaitis of Larem in conjunction with Jan Middelburg, an independent broker.