Civic Center Office Building Garners $18M

ANAHEIM, CA-Pacific Bell Telephone Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc., has sold a class-A office property in the Downtown Anaheim Civic Center market to the PRES Cos., a privately held, fully integrated commercial real estate firm based in Irvine. GlobeSt.com has learned that the property, located at 200 W. Center Street Promenade, sold for $18 million.

PRES has selected Jones Lang LaSalle to handle the leasing at the building. “Jones Lang LaSalle was selected for this assignment because of its deep and broad expertise in the OC and its ability to successfully market properties of this institutional quality,” says George Thomson, SVP of JLL Orange County. Thomson, along with SVP James Estrada, is leading the leasing effort for the property.

The AT&T building is an eight-story office building situated on 1.187 acres in the recently revitalized Downtown Anaheim. Cushman & Wakefield's Jeffrey Cole, Ed Hernandez, Rick Ingwers, Brad Rogers, Roger Gage and Michael McMillan represented AT&T in the sale.

PRES purchased the property as an investment with the intention of leasing it to users ranging from 25,000 square feet to 191,647 square feet of contiguous space. The property provides a parking ratio in excess of 5/1,000 and is a value-add opportunity, with asking rates for class-A space in the Central Orange County office market averaging $1.99 per square foot.

According to Cole, executive director with C&W, “This transaction was a true win-win for both parties. AT&T achieved premium pricing for its corporate real estate, and PRES can contribute to the revitalization of Downtown Anaheim by repositioning this class-A asset. The location is ideal for business tenants with proximity to Anaheim City Hall, the Main Library, Disney Ice, the Farmer's Market and newly built apartments, lofts and condos. There is nowhere else in Central Orange County that has these prime amenities.”

As GlobeSt.com reported in December 2013, owners and developers of office space are seeking out new ways to gain an edge, and as a result, a variety of new office submarkets are emerging in revitalized areas within established markets, reports Rick Cleveland, managing director, research and strategy, for Cushman & Wakefield. As GlobeSt.com reported earlier, the firm recently held a global office webinar to discuss trends worldwide in the office sector, during which Cleveland presented.