Hines JV Refinances Orange County Office Campus

By Jeff Hamann

Rendering of Intersect in Irvine, Calif.

A joint venture between Hines and PIMCO has taken a $144 million refinancing package for its recently renovated, 452,203-square-foot Intersect office campus in Irvine, Calif. The mortgage, secured by HFF and funded by New York Life Insurance, will be used to pay down a previous $79 million loan taken in 2016 from the same lender.

Located at 17875 and 17877 Von Karman Ave., and 17872 and 17838 Gillette Ave., in the city’s Irvine Business Complex submarket, the asset is situated two blocks from Interstate 405. A number of shopping, dining and hospitality options sit in the immediate area of the campus.

The property is home to a number of tenants, including Xponential Fitness, which signed a lease in January, Marriott International, Edison Energy and Mazda. Per Yardi Matrix data from March 2018, the buildings had a weighted vacancy rate of 45.8 percent. Some of the proceeds from the new mortgage will be used to fund the remaining lease-up of the asset.

Significantly redeveloped

Intersect Building B in Irvine, Calif.

The four structures at Intersect were completed in 1989, 1990, 2000 and 2004, and prior owners had updated the buildings both in 2004 and 2015, according to Yardi Matrix. After picking up the asset in 2015 for $121.5 million from Menlo Equities, Hines and PIMCO invested $25 million to redevelop the campus. The firm’s investment, completed in January 2018, yielded upgrades to the property’s 6,000-square-foot fitness center and renovated outdoor areas, conference facilities and common areas.

“By working together with our investment advisory team to establish value, and then structuring the financing offer properly based on current metrics in the debt markets, the sponsor was able to partially re-capitalize the asset mid-way through the business plan, while significantly reducing their cost of capital,” said Kevin MacKenzie, executive managing director of HFF, in a prepared statement. MacKenzie and John Chun led the HFF team that closed the loan on the owner’s behalf.

Images courtesy of Hines and Yardi Matrix