New American Funding owners buy Santa Ana offices for $31M

The owners of New American Funding bought a 208,300-square-foot office tower in Santa Ana for $31 million — or $23 million less than what it traded for five years ago.

An unidentified LLC headed by New American’s co-founder, Rick Arvielo bought the nine-story building at 1 MacArthur Place, the Orange County Business Journal reported. The seller was TPG, based in San Francisco, which sought $33 million.

The deal works out to $149 per square foot.

In 2019, Angelo Gordon and Ocean West Capital Partners bought the Class A building for $54 million, or $259 per square foot. TPG took control of the building after its $2.8 billion acquisition of Angelo Gordon.

New American Funding, a mortgage lender based in Tustin, will move its headquarters into its seventh and eighth floors, Arvielo told the newspaper. The company is run by Arvielo and his wife, Patty.

The building, built in 2000 and renovated for $3.6 million four years ago, was 62 percent leased at the time of its sale. Tenants include the State of California, which signed a long-term lease for an undisclosed price and footprint.

Brokers Chris Bosley and Raymond Thagard of Cushman & Wakefield represented the buyer in the deal. Paul Jones, Michael Moore and Brandon White of Newmark represented the seller.

The building along the 55 Freeway sits next to a sister building at MacArthur Place, mostly occupied by state agencies. Boyd Watterson Asset Management, based in Cleveland, bought that nine-story tower in 2021 for $98 million, or $446 per square foot.

The stark difference in valuation for the two similar buildings has mostly to do with the tenant makeup of each tower, according to the Business Journal. 

In 2022, the Arvielos, co-CEOs of New American, sold a 112,400-square-foot office and manufacturing building at 14191 Myford Road in Tustin to Houston-based Hines for $50 million, or $446 per square foot. It’s fully leased to pharmaceutical manufacturer Avid Bioservices.

The couple paid $22.5 million for the building in 2017.

Since 2013, New American has purchased at least eight buildings, including properties in Riverside, Temecula, Las Vegas and Texas, according to the Business Journal. The company, founded by the Arvielos in 2003, reported $935 million in revenue in 2022. 

— Dana Bartholomew

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