Hong Kong Concern Buys Columbia Landmark Building

A Hong Kong shipping concern has bought the Columbia Landmark building in Irvine near John Wayne Airport for $17 million.

The 15-year-old, four-story building now houses Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. and commercial property broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

Nearly all of its 83,000 square feet are leased.

The seller was Columbia Savings Realty Group, the real estate arm of Columbia Savings & Loan Assn. of Beverly Hills.

The buyer was Hechney Transportation Co., a Hong Kong company that leases space wholesale on freighters, then leases it out retail to shippers.

It was thought to be one of the first major purchases in Orange County by a Hong Kong investor.

Hong Kong and Taiwanese investors are a second wave of foreign investment in U.S. real estate after a heavy round of Japanese buying.

Hong Kong investors, in particular, have a pressing reason to invest their cash in foreign real estate now: The British colony reverts back to China in 1997.

Hechney, in fact, is only one of several Hong Kong investors looking at Columbia Savings’ buildings, said Jeff Palmer, chief operating officer of Columbia Savings’ real estate arm.

There tend to be a lot more Hong Kong and Taiwanese investors than the few giant Japanese banks and investment companies that are buying the big “trophy” buildings in the United States, Palmer said. And the Hong Kong and Taiwanese investors’ purchases tend to be smaller, too, he said.

But, Palmer said, their purchases are growing.

The Columbia Landmark building--at 2100 Main Street overlooking the San Diego Freeway--was one of the odds and ends in Columbia’s portfolio.

The thrift owns the surrounding Koll Center Irvine North with The Koll Co., the Newport Beach developer, but the building was never a part of that office park.

The Columbia Landmark building was built in 1974 for the purpose of consolidating the U.S. headquarters of Mazda, the Japanese car manufacturer.

But Mazda ran into problems in the U.S. car market and never moved into the lushly appointed building.

It was put up for sale but languished until Occidental Petroleum bought it to house a research operation a few years later.

Columbia Savings bought it in 1984 and extensively renovated it in 1986. It is one of several such properties the thrift bought in the mid-1980s with the purpose of renovating and eventually selling, Palmer said.