Prudential Dunn Realtors Takes Company Honors
Several large players in the San Diego County real estate market announced major transactions in the past two weeks.
San Diego builders Brookfield Homes and Shea Homes said they jointly purchased 1,200 acres on Otay Ranch in South County. They intend to build about 2,300 homes on the land and donate 540 acres to the city of Chula Vista, said Steve Doyle, president of Brookfield Homes San Diego.
Their joint venture, Brookfield Shea Otay LLC, bought Village 11 of Otay Ranch from NM Homes Two Inc. based in Chula Vista. The property is just south of the Eastlake Greens subdivision. No purchase price was disclosed.
Newland Communities of San Diego and Institutional Housing Partners of Irvine, investment advisers and developers of master-planned communities in partnership with the California Public Employees Retirement System, have opened escrow on the purchase of Genstar Land Co. It owns the 4-S Ranch near Rancho Bernardo.
A subsidiary of British American Tobacco PLC, is selling Genstar, which owns the local land, plus 26 other development projects in six other states, said Michael Flaherman, chairman of CalPERS’ investment committee.
The price for all of the projects is $223 million, he said.
“Genstar represents some of the best housing development opportunities in California and across the United States,” Flaherman said.
About 90 percent of the purchase price is being provided through an investment by CalPERS in Newland and IHP, he said.
San Diego-based H.G. Fenton Co. has closed three real estate transactions in which more than 1,100 acres in the South Bay area were traded through a 1031 tax-deferred exchange for 448 apartment units in Tierrasanta and a 122,000-square-foot industrial park in Carmel Mountain Ranch.
Mike Neal, vice president of H.G. Fenton, said the 1,100 acres were near Otay Lakes Road and Hunte Parkway. The Eastlake Co. was the buyer. It is the master developer of Eastlake, which abuts the recent purchase, he said.
In the same transaction, H.G. Fenton then purchased Carmel Business Center, an industrial development at 12205 World Trade Center Drive from RREEF of San Francisco. H.G. Fenton also acquired El Dorado Hills, a 28-building, 448-unit apartment complex at 3838 Pendiente Court. The seller of that project was Archstone Communities of Englewood, Colo.
San Diego Equities REIT I, a subsidiary of USAA Real Estate Advisors of San Antonio, and SITQ of Montreal, announced June 2 that it had closed a purchase escrow on the First National Bank Center at 401 West A St. in Downtown. The purchase price of the 547,488-square-foot, 27-story tower was not disclosed. However, when the property sold in September 1997, the San Diego County tax assessor valued it at approximately $62 million, county records show.
A subsidiary of Southwest Value Partners of San Diego and the Millar Seldin Children’s Trust were the sellers.
The REIT has several other holdings in San Diego County as well, said Tom Honeycutt, a spokesman for USAA Real Estate Co.
– – –
Bits And Pieces: Prudential Dunn Realtors of San Diego and Elliott Scott, an agent with the firm, have been named the No. 1 commercial real estate sales office and commercial real estate agent for the first quarter for Prudential Real Estate Affiliates Network. NTD Architects of San Diego has completed the design of Mission Hills High School for the San Marcos Unified School District. Sully-Jones Roofing Co. of El Cajon finished late last month the approximately 50,000-square-foot re-roofing of the Imperial Beach Gardens apartments.
Send real estate and construction news to Art Grupe at agrupe@sdbj.com.
