Biggest Office Building in County Changes Hands for $61 Million

Orange County’s largest office building, the 12-story Griffin Towers in Santa Ana, has been sold to a Chicago pension fund manager for $61 million. The Chicago company, Heitman Advisory Group, also agreed to buy a second tower being built for about $61 million. The final price of the second tower--which will be linked with the first by an atrium--depends on how much space tenants lease in the second building. It is expected to open next year. The seller was Metro Associates, a partnership of Griffin Realty Corp. in Santa Ana and Ahmanson Commercial Development Co., a subsidiary of Los Angeles thrift Home Savings of America. The cost of the two buildings--which will total 550,000 square feet of office space when completed--was $90 million, the partnership said. The buildings are in Hutton Centre near the intersection of the San Diego Freeway and the Costa Mesa Freeway. The computer company Unisys Corp. is the major tenant of the first building.