Unico Refis Office Tower After All-Cash Buy

Hunter's Chase

San Diego-based Pathfinder Partners LLC has acquired 20 units in Hunter’s Chase, a condominium project in Parker, CO, 19 miles southeast of Downtown Denver. Bringing a long-stalled property back on the market, Pathfinder has listed the property for sale with Denver-based Koelbel and Co. Senior managing director Lorne Polger of Pathfinder Partners says the company plans to finish construction immediately and sell the condos over the next six to 12 months. The Hunter’s Chase project was first developed in 2005, but construction was halted in 2007. The two-bedroom, two-bath condominiums, ranging from 1,084 to 1,224 square feet, will be priced starting at $99,000.

ORANGE COUNTY

Buyer 7050 Katella Ave. LLC has acquired a 30,476-square-foot Smart & Final grocery store at 7050 Katella Ave. in Stanton from Seal Beach, CA-based Heslin Becker Properties for $8.1 million. The buyer is an investment group that was headed by David Altemus and Justin Altemus, as managing members of the LLC. The property was originally home to an Albertsons store, which closed several years ago. Heslin Becker Properties worked with the site's existing fee owner and Albertsons to purchase the fee and terminate the lease. Heslin Becker then leased the space to Smart & Final and completely renovated the building, which helped revitalize the entire shopping center. “We acquired the property in 2007 and repositioned it into one of the first Smart & Final Extra concept stores, which provided the community with quality retail services and enhanced the overall area,” explained Matthew Heslin, principal and co-owner of Heslin Becker. “Given the pent-up demand for single-tenant retail product in the market, we opted to sell once the property was stabilized and generating good cash flow,” added Phillip Nahas, vice president of operations for Heslin Becker. Altemus won the deal for its track record as well as its "strong commercial property portfolio and experience as an owner of other Smart & Final properties," Nahas added. Justin Altemus says the acquisition represents a stabilized property in an infill area with a viable/proven tenant with over 17 years left on a lease. "In addition, the lease contained rental increases along the way to help offset anticipated future inflation,” he noted. Heslin Becker was represented by Chuck Klein and Kevin Held of Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial Net Lease Investment Services, with 7050 Katella Ave. LLC represented by the Altemus Co., which is the Altemus’ brokerage and property management arm.

SEATTLE

The Institute for Systems Biology has occupied a new headquarters of nearly 140,000 square feet at Vulcan Real Estate's 401 Terry Avenue North building in the South Lake Union neighborhood. The new HQ includes a 3,000-square-foot data center that stores approximately one petabyte of scientific data, which is more than four times as much as the Library of Congress or the equivalent of 1.7 million CDs, according to a Vulcan announcement.

401 Terry Ave.

The new headquarters, which houses 300 staff and collaborators, will enable the institute to double the size of its faculty over the next decade, according the Vulcan announcement.

A California-based buyer has acquired the 42-unit Patagonia Village Apartments in Woodinville, WA from Washington Square Condos LLC for $3.7 million, according to the CB Richard Ellis Seattle Private Client Group, which brokered the sale. Mark Zoffel, who was part of a CBRE team including Steven Chattin and Mitchell Belcher that represented the seller, notes that it was a fractured condo deal, with seven units sold in 2008. Zoffel notes that the Seattle market "has become attractive to multifamily investors from outside the market, especially California," because the investors' local markets "have become overheated."

SAN DIEGO COUNTY

Yardage Town, a family-owned fabric and sewing business, has acquired a 13,300-square-foot retail property on a 20,000 square-foot parcel at 1205 W. Morena Blvd. in San Diego from Arthur and Alyce Wilson for $1.93 million in a deal brokered by VP Rex Huffman of Voit Real Estate Services’ San Diego office. Huffman, who has been the leasing agent on the property for the past 20 years, represented the Wilsons in the sale. “We faced an initial challenge when marketing this property due to its older attributes, like a low ceiling and minimal parking,” Huffman said. Voit marketed the property as a diamond in the rough by highlighting its location in the Morena Plaza Shopping Center off the 5 Freeway near SeaWorld. Yardage Town was represented by Tim Mills of Cushman and Wakefield.

Westcore Properties of San Diego has acquired a 60,819-square-foot industrial distribution facility called Distribution II on three acres at 9855 Distribution Ave. in the Miramar area from Helix 1960 Ltd. and Helix Land Co. Ltd. for an undisclosed price. Steve Bollert, a principal with Westcore and its director of Southern California acquisitions, says that the building offers "tremendous value-add opportunity" and that, since tenant activity for the building is already robust, "We anticipate having it stabilized by year-end.” The buyer and the seller were both represented by Bryce T. Aberg of Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Kam Sang Co. has financed a Residence Inn on Firestone Boulevard in La Mirada’s Gateway Center with an $11.8 million loan arranged by Continental Funding Group. CFG president Mitch Paskover worked on behalf of the borrower to arrange the five-year, fixed-rate financing at 65% loan to value, a 25-year amortization and an interest rate in the high 5% range. Paskover says the borrower was looking for a fixed-rate, non-recourse loan and wanted to keep his interest rate below 6%. "Given the borrower’s tremendous track record of hospitality ownership and management the lender went to 65% loan-to-value and an 11.5% debt yield," Paskover notes.