Orange County Industrial Sale Among Year’s Priciest Deals

Lincoln Property Company and Artemis Real Estate Partners have joined forces to buy an Orange County industrial facility.

Paper Mart, a family-owned packaging supply company with a century-long history, sold its 250,000-square-foot headquarters at 2164 North Batavia Street in Orange for about $65 million, or roughly $260 per square foot, the Orange County Business Journal reported.

The joint venture’s purchase is one of the biggest industrial trades in Orange County this year by price, ranking among the year’s five largest single-building industrial sales in the county, per CoStar. The property was built in 1995 and originally housed liquor distributor Young’s Market Company before Paper Mart reportedly paid $22.2 million for the building in 2010.

Paper Mart owner Frick Family Properties signed a 12-month sale-leaseback with the buyers as part of the deal. The packaging company, which occupies the entire building, hasn’t disclosed where it plans to move after its lease ends.

The Lincoln and Artemis joint venture plans to upgrade the facility over the next year before bringing it to market for lease after Paper Mart’s eventual exit.

The deal expands Lincoln’s Orange County industrial portfolio, which includes the Flight creative office campus in Tustin and more than 14 million square feet of local commercial space under its management.

The Paper Mart property buy is Lincoln’s biggest local buy since its acquisition of the Square on Main office campus in Orange three years ago. The deal also marks the first time in over a decade that Lincoln has joined forces with Artemis.

Paper Mart’s trade is the latest Orange County sale from owner-users.

Government consulting agency HdL Companies recently sold an 80,000-square-foot multitenant office building in Brea to a Monterey Bay-based investor; the company previously owned the building at 120 South State College Boulevard and uses it as its headquarters alongside other tenants. HdL reportedly paid $23 million for the offices in 2019.

— Chris Malone Méndez