Hines’ pays $42.5M medical bill in Torrance

Hines has snapped up a medical office property in Torrance for $42.5 million.

The Houston-based private developer bought a 145,000-square-foot building at 21081 Western Avenue, dubbed Waypoint, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Los Angeles-based office investor Montana Avenue Capital Partners previously owned the property, records show, buying it for around $36 million in 2018.

The sale to Hines, perhaps best known for office towers, is in line with the firm’s recent pivot toward adding life sciences-related properties along with multifamily and industrial properties. In August, the firm raised $625 million for a new commercial investment fund, with projections to hit $1 billion by the end of September and add another $1 billion annually. The firm also plans to acquire self-storage, data center, as well as student and senior housing properties through the fund.

At $293 per square foot, the deal is slightly higher than recent office sales in Torrance. In October of last year, Milpitas-based real estate investment firm Nome Ventures bought a 237,000-square-foot property for $55.5 million — around $234 per square foot.

The property is 93 percent leased to 13 tenants, Hines said in the filing.

Urgent care provider Concentra has a clinic at the building, as does psychotherapy provider AMHA Medical Group.

As of the end of the third quarter, office vacancy rates in Torrance were 12.9 percent, according to Newmark. This quarter, more firms have moved into the area, including defense technology firm Epirus, which signed a 10-year lease to take an entire 100,000-square-foot office and warehouse property.

Around 9,300 square feet at the building is currently up for lease, with monthly asking rents of $2.40 per square foot — slightly lower than the average monthly asking rent for Class B office properties in Torrance last quarter, which was $2.56 per square foot.