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Acore Capital wins auction for OC office complex with $70M bid
Lender on Heights campus in Aliso Viejo takes control from Rockpoint out of foreclosure
Acore Capital has snagged a 489,800-square-foot office complex in south Orange County at a foreclosure auction for $70 million.
The Larkspur-based commercial real estate finance firm bought the five-building Heights campus at 65-101 Enterprise in Aliso Viejo, the Orange County Business Journal reported.
The deal works out to $143 per square foot.
The Class A offices, built from 1998 to 2000 next to Highway 73, were previously owned by Boston-based Rockpoint, which had nearly $132 million in unpaid debt tied to the property.
Rockpoint bought The Heights complex in 2018 for $157 million, or $327 per square foot, with financing from Acore. Lenders often have an advantage in foreclosure auctions because they can use the outstanding debt as credit in their bids.
Tenants at the three- and four-story complex include Microsoft, Vialase, NuVasive and the U.S. General Services Administration, according to CoStar Group. Several tenants left during the pandemic, including Industrious, a co-working firm.
Acore will bring on Lincoln Property to manage the 21-acre office campus, unidentified sources told the Business Journal.
The Aliso Viejo deal is one more sign of declining office values in Orange County.
Last month, Joe Wen bought a 394,000-square-foot office campus in Huntington Beach for $42 million, or $107 per square foot. That’s 66 percent less than the $124.5 million, or $315 per square foot, it traded for 2018.
In August, Manulife US REIT lowered the value of a 19-story, 536,000-square-foot office tower in Irvine to $256 million, from $292 million late last year. Before the pandemic, it was valued at $345 million. That’s a 26 percent decline from its peak value.
In July, Ontario-based MGR Real Estate bought a 553,000-square-foot office campus in Costa Mesa for $91.5 million, or $165 per square foot. That’s 12 percent less than the combined $102.8 million it traded for between 2013 and 2015. And 45 percent less factoring in another $30 million in renovations.
Acore has several investments in Southern California, including hotel property in Newport Beach.
Last year, the firm provided a $146 million loan for Newport Beach-based Eagle Four Partners for its purchase of the newly opened 295-room Pendry Newport Beach near the Fashion Island mall.
— Dana Bartholomew