Cancer center to open in Newport Beach after $14M office trade

Deal sets price-per-square-foot record for OC buildings larger than 10k sf

Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County and 1601 Avocado Avenue (Credit: CBRE)
Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County and 1601 Avocado Avenue (Credit: CBRE)

City of Hope National Medical Center has purchased an office building in Newport Beach for $14.2 million.

With about 12,500 square feet of space, the price averages out to about $1,132 per-square-foot — a record high in Orange County for buildings with more than 10,000 square feet, according to CBRE, which represented the seller in the deal.

The Newport Diagnostic Center sold the office building. The companies announced the deal this month.

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The two-story property is located at 1601 Avocado Avenue, next to the Newport Center retail complex. City of Hope plans on renovating the building and opening a clinic later this year to treat about 3,500 cancer patients.

City of Hope also plans to open a $200-million main campus at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine in 2022

Newport Beach is home to 1.38 million square feet of medical office space with a 5.9-percent vacancy rate and no new developments under construction, according to CBRE. The firm projects that Orange County will see rents grow by more than 30 percent over the next five years due to low vacancy rates and increasing job growth.

Chipotle signed a deal last July to take over two floors at the Newport Center complex. In September, Lincoln Property Co. and Angelo Gordon & Co. acquired the 181,000-square-foot Redstone Plaza at 1300 Dove Street, and an 83,000-square-foot office nearby at 1201 Dove Street, both in Newport Beach. The joint venture paid $62 million for the former and $26 million for the latter, The Real Deal reported.