Industrial, Office Buyers Pay $15M for 174,000 SF

IRVINE, CA-A Korean firm has acquired a 136,000-square-foot industrial building here for $11.6 million and a 38,316-square-foot vacant office building in Santa Ana has traded for $2.9 million in two recently closed deals, according to brokers from Grubb & Ellis Co. and Lee & Associates who negotiated them.

Grubb & Ellis reports that in the Irvine transaction, Seoul, Korea-based water heater manufacturer Navien America Inc. bought the 136,000-square-foot building, which is at 20 Goodyear, from Goodyear Investment LLC.

“The property was sold to a well-capitalized international firm with the desire for a highly visible location in Irvine that provided room for growth,” said David Kluver, a Grubb & Ellis associate vice president in the company's industrial group who represented the seller along with senior associate Nick Carey.

Navien, which manufactures tankless water heaters and combination space heaters, will use 20 Goodyear as its US headquarters. The company was represented in its acquisition by Hak Chung of the Heger Co. Built in 1983, the single-story manufacturing building includes dock-high and ground level loading docks, as well as a 28-foot clearance. The property is close to the intersection of Interstates 5 and 405, as well as the Irvine Spectrum Center.

In the Santa Ana transadtion, Lee & Associates reports that the 38,316-square-foot building that sold was the Brookhollow Office Park at 1570 E. Warner Ave. The Lee team on the transaction included Erik Thompson David Newton, Craig DeMiranda and Jeff Stephens of the company's Anaheim office.

“The building was 100% vacant and had a significant amount of deferred maintenance,” said Thompson, whose team represented seller Chung & Company LLC. “We had to sell the building before the maturity of existing financing on the building and because of a crunch in the capital markets, refinancing of a vacant office building was not an option. The only option was to sell the building.”

After analyzing market sales velocity, absorption, and vacancy of the 30-year-old property, which also includes 13 suites, Thompson said the team established an aggressive marketing plan that resulted in a quick close and a 17% premium on the seller’s expectations. Epic Investment Realty’s Thomas Wan represented buyer Tony Yang of Interactive USA.