3 Newport Center Buildings Sold for Possible Record Per-Foot Rate

Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. sold three buildings at Newport Center last week for nearly $309 per square foot, believed to be the highest rate ever paid in the county. The buildings brought a total of $83 million.

The buildings--at 800, 820 and 840 Newport Center Drive in Newport Beach--include two white, 7-story office buildings and a 1-story building housing a stock brokerage and The Ritz restaurant.

The deal does not include the life insurance company’s own headquarters building nearby.

The buyer was the California State Teachers Retirement System.

One reason for the stiff price was that several Japanese companies also bid on the building, according to the Irvine office of Equitable Real Estate Investment Management Inc., which manages the retirement fund’s real estate assets.

“And I think you’ll see more of this kind of pricing in the county,” said David Albright, an Equitable vice president.

Equitable and Pacific Mutual believe that square-foot price is the highest ever paid in the county.

Pacific Mutual sold because its own real estate advisers said the company could get a premium price for the buildings, the life insurance company said.

Newport Center, with its view of the ocean, is attractive to well-heeled tenants. The two office buildings are nearly 90% leased and rents are in the range of $2.25 per square foot, higher than the rents many similar buildings elsewhere in the county are getting because of high vacancy rates.