Texas developer confirms $1.4-billion Southern California office acquisition

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Another big chunk of Southern California office property once owned by Los Angeles landlord Arden Realty Inc. changed hands again.

A major Texas developer confirmed Monday that it took possession of 53 Southern California office buildings last week in a transaction valued at almost $1.4 billion after the previous owners were unable keep up their loan payments.

Privately held Hines of Houston recently said it controlled international real estate valued at $23 billion, including several properties in California such as office buildings One Wilshire and Union Bank Plaza in downtown Los Angeles.

The most recent purchases include the Beverly Atrium in Beverly Hills, South Bay Centre in Gardena and Fountain Valley Plaza in Fountain Valley.

The portfolio in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties was purchased from Arden in 2007 for $1.51 billion by a group of 32 investors.

Hines was one of 11 lenders for the 32 investors, who were represented by Cabi Developers of Miami. An affiliate of Cabi managed the portfolio.

‘We were first in line when they defaulted on the mortgage,’ said Colin Shepherd, a senior vice president at Hines. ‘They negotiated in lieu of a foreclosure to turn the assets over to us.’ He valued the transaction, which involved assuming all debts to other lenders, at close to $1.4 billion. Cabi sold two buildings from the original portfolio to raise money for interest payments.

Hines is working on a strategy to get maximum profit from the multi-tenant buildings, but probably won’t part with any of them soon, Shepherd said. ‘I would not anticipate that we would be selling any of the assets in the near term,’ he said.

--Roger Vincent