CIP Acquires $16M Office Project

IRVINE, CA-CIP Real Estate, based here, has acquired a $16-million office building in a joint venture with Guggenheim Real Estate and plans to improve operating efficiencies to create upside in the 98% leased asset. The property is the 75,680-sf Empire Towers IV in Ontario, where CIP and Guggenheim already owned three class A office properties in the multiple-phase Empire Towers office campus before this recent acquisition.

The joint venture of CIP and Guggenheim acquired the office building from the developer, an affiliate of Lord Baltimore Properties. Empire Towers IV was constructed in December 2004 and is a three-story building at 3800 Concours, at the southeast corner of Inland Empire Boulevard and Mercedes Lane.

The Empire Towers campus will ultimately total nearly 525,000 sf of class A office space in multiple buildings. With this acquisition CIP Real Estate owns and manages four of the office buildings.

The three other buildings owned by CIP and Guggenheim at the project include the nine-story Empire Towers I and twin three-story buildings, Empire Towers II and Empire Towers III. Counting the JV’s latest acquisition, it now owns approximately 400,000 sf at the campus.

Chuck McKenna, principal with CIP Real Estate, says that owning the four buildings at one office campus will enable the venture of CIP and Guggenheim to achieve operating efficiencies in all four of the properties. He notes that the campus is a popular office choice because of its location within five minutes of both the L.A.-Ontario International Airport and the Ontario Mills Shopping Mall, with immediate access to both the Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 freeway interchanges.

The Empire Towers IV building is anchored by National General Insurance Co., Cushman & Wakefield, W.E. O’Neill Construction Co., Rabobank and National University.