Werdin Pays $20 Million for Nine-Building Complex

Werdin Corp., a Newport Beach commercial developer, has acquired a nine-building office complex in Costa Mesa from another Newport Beach company for $20 million.

Werdin bought the 157,000-square-foot complex, the Waters at Creekside, from Metro Commercial Realty Corp.

Tenants consist mainly of dozens of small firms in small offices. Only about 5% of the complex is vacant, Chief Executive Russell Werdin said.

The company plans to make cosmetic improvements to the complex and raise rents, Werdin said. Sometime next year, he said, the buildings will be sold individually to real estate investors.

Werdin, a co-developer of the Redhill Technology Center in Santa Ana, also is building a 100,000-square-foot industrial building in Santa Ana on a five-acre parcel and will eventually sell it, the executive said.