Chicago Building Co-Owned by Pac Life Close to Sale [Orange County Business Journal (CA)]

Insurer Teamed With Developer on High-Rises

REAL ESTATE

A high-rise apartment tower in Chicago partly owned by Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. is close to being sold, while another area complex it owns has been pulled off the market, according to local reports.

Pacific Life in recent years teamed with Chicago-based developer Fifíeld Cos. to build a pair of high-end apartment complexes in Chicago'sWest Loop, the 350-unit Echelon at K Station, and the two-tower Alta at K Station complex, which totals 848 units.

Pacific Life, known more for its insurance and investments products, announced in 2007 it was helping to fund Fifield, one of the country's better-known developers of high-end condo and apartment complexes, for up to $400 million in apartment construction. Chicago has been the focus ofthat development to date.

Both complexes count their share of resort-like qualities, and command pricey rents starting at roughly $1,500 per month and rising to nearly $3,000. Echelon counts a terrace with a lap pool and a game room with billiards, while Alta has been described as the "South Beach of Chicago," according to marketing materials.

Both projects were put up for sale in the summer, and the smaller Echelon project is now said to be nearing a sale.

Miami-based developer Crescent Heights is rumored to be the leading bidder for that project, which is likely to trade in the $105 million range, or about $300,000 per apartment, according to a December report in Crain's Chicago Business.

Crain's also reported that Fifield and Pacific Life pulled the larger Alta project - which was expected to sell in the $250 million range - off the market, due to buyer concerns over pricing and a potential for a glut of new apartment projects in the Windy City moving ahead.

Crescent Heights has made notable buys in OC as well as Chicago. It recently confirmed it had closed on the buy of Huntington Beach's long-stalled Pacific City development site along Pacific Coast Highway.

The Business Journal reported on the likely sale of a $130 million loan tied to the site in October with Crescent Heights rumored to be a potential buyer. The loan was believed to have sold in the $60 million range.

The 30-acre site was originally slated to be developed into condos, shops and a hotel by Newport Beach-based Makar Properties Lie but fell into financial difficulties during the downturn.

Tile Lease

Dallas-based DaI-TUe Corp., one the largest ceramic tile manufacturers in the U.S., recently signed lease renewals for a trio of nearby sites it has in Anaheim's Platinum Triangle area, totaling 1 14,200 square feet

The properties serve as a regional wholesale distribution point for the company's ceramic tile and stone slabs, as well as a high-end gallery showroom for the firm. The buildings include 2051-2091 E. Howell SL, 1600 S. Page Court and 1541 S. Page Court.

Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. Garrick Shupe, a vice president with the Irvine office of Jones Lang LaSaIk that represented the tenant in the lease, said the new deal will "reduce Dai-Tile's current rent obligation and extend its lease term at below market rental rates."

The industrial vacancy rate in the Anaheim Stadium area now runs about 7.6%, Shupe said.

The owner of the three buildings, Los Angeles-based DSA Properties LP, was represented in the lease by Karney Management.

Rent to Own

Newport Beach-based Irvine Company has kicked offa new plan that gives renters at its numerous apartment complexes up to $5,000 in credits toward buying a home at one of the developer's new communities.

The renter equity program kicked offa few months ago for leases that were in effect at the start of July. Renters can accrue credits from a portion of their lease that can be used at new homes built at the Laguna Altura, Stonegate, Stonegate East and Woodbury communities by Irvine Pacific, the developer's home-building arm.

Credits accrue at a rate of 5% of a person's rent for the duration of the initial lease at any of Irvine Co.'s 116 apartment complexes, according to the company. They rise to as much as 10% of one's rent for subsequent leases.

The maximum accrual amount under program is $5,000.

A similar rent-tc-buy program was used by Irvine Co. in the early 1990s, when it offered residents of its apartments as much as a $3,000 credit if they bought condos at a handful of projects it was selling at the time, including Newport Beach'sBig Canyon.

Irvine Co. owns about 44,000 apartments in California.

Alta: pulled over pricing concerns

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