Bixby to buy five O.C. properties

Bixby Land Co., one of Southern California’s oldest landlords, agreed Monday to buy five Orange County office properties from Maguire Properties Inc. for $345 million.

Bixby is a Newport Beach private real estate investment trust that was formed more than 100 years ago. It owns more than 50 properties.

Four of the five office properties Bixby is buying from Maguire are near the ocean, Chief Executive Bill Halford said.

“They are in markets where new development is almost impossible and are close to high-end executive housing,” he said. “They should maintain high occupancy while rents grow.”

Among the properties is Inwood Park in Irvine, which includes 3.5 acres of undeveloped land. Halford plans to start construction soon on a four-story building there. “We think there will be an appetite for another low-rise building,” he said.

The other properties include Redstone Plaza and 1201 Dove St. in Newport Beach Fairchild Corporate Center in Irvine and Bixby Ranch office park in Seal Beach.

The properties are part of a portfolio of 24 properties that Los Angeles-based Maguire is acquiring from New York investment firm Blackstone Group in a $3-billion deal. Maguire, the largest office landlord in downtown L.A., said last month that it planned to sell 17 properties to reduce debt.

Current rents paid by tenants in the buildings are about 30% below the latest market rates, Halford said.

“As leases expire, Bixby will bring these up to market,” said real estate broker Robert Smith of CB Richard Ellis.

Baltimore-based Mercantile Real Estate Advisors Inc. is a co-investor with Bixby in the deal, expected to close by summer.

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