Amazon is bringing in the cash for Sares Regis Group’s new development in Huntington Beach.
The Newport Beach-based industrial developer got a $124 million loan for a newly constructed 243,000-square-foot building in Huntington Beach from Truist Bank, property records filed with Orange County show. Sares Regis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Construction on the building, located at 14953 Bolsa Chica Street, started in 2020 and finished in October of last year, according to an Oct. 25 notice of completion filed with the county. Sares Regis used a $85 million loan from Comerica Bank for construction.
The property was built as an Amazon distribution center for larger and heavier items, according to Oltmans Construction Co.’s website — a construction firm that worked on the project. Amazon also signed a lease on the property in November 2020, before construction started. It’s unclear how long Amazon will occupy the property.
Signing a deal before the property is completed is a way for tenants to tackle extremely low vacancy rates. Sares Regis may have foregone more in rent by signing a deal almost two years before the property can even open, given rent growth across Orange County in recent years.
Sares Regis’ building is part of its larger plan for an industrial development in Huntington Beach, which will span five buildings once it’s completed. Formerly owned by Boeing, Sares-Regis bought part of the site for $72.8 million in 2018 and the rest for $113 million in 2019, records show.
The buildings will total around 1.04 million square feet once construction is finished, with around 90,000 square feet of that space to be offices, according to development plans filed with the city of Huntington Beach. More than 2,000 parking spaces will also be built on the site.
In September, Sares Regis signed Cambro Manufacturing, which makes food service equipment, to a lease at a 433,865-square-foot building on the Huntington Beach site, which is currently under development.