The former LT Platinum site next to Angel Stadium in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle, once eyed for one of Orange County’s more ambitious mixed-use developments, has traded hands once again.

The deal could lead to another shake-up for the long-planned redevelopment of the largely vacant 14-acre site near the southwest corner of the baseball stadium.

An entity with ties to Irvine-based Camphor Partners recently sold the site at 2030 S. State College Blvd. for $43.8 million, or about $3.1 million per acre, property records indicate.

The deal marks a premium over the prior 2019 sale, when the Camphor affiliate paid about $32 million, or $2.3 million per acre, for the site from Hong Kong-based LT Commercial Real Estate Ltd., signaling land values have held up throughout the pandemic. LT Commercial had bought the site in 2014 for $28.4 million.

Property records indicate the new owner is a venture between Newport Beach-based EBS Realty Partners and Connecticut-based Penwood Real Estate Investment Management.

The buyers are said to be in talks with the city of Anaheim regarding future redevelopment plans, which will be consistent with “the highest and best use” master plan for the Platinum Triangle, according to city spokesperson Mike Lyster.

In the interim, the new owners may utilize the existing industrial space on the property while they finalize plans for a development, likely mixed-use in nature with apartment and retail components.

New Direction

The Anaheim site, at the northeast corner of State College Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue, has been largely vacant for almost seven years. It has seen several development proposals over that period.

Plans under LT Commercial’s ownership involved an L.A. Live-type development holding some 1.7 million-square-foot of entertainment, hotel and residential uses, with several towers built. Its cost was estimated in the $500 million range when initially proposed.

In 2016, the city approved a plan with 405 residential units, 583,000 square feet of commercial development, and 77,000 square feet of office development. Construction never kicked off at the site.

Last year, the Camphor-led group proposed a scaled-down project that would have seen 947 rental apartment units, a 25,000-square-foot grocery store, two parking structures totaling 1,970 spaces and a 1-acre park.

The new ownership team has yet to submit any formal plans, though a mixed-use project similar in scope to Camphor’s project is likely.

EBS

The deal is a rare Orange County buy of late for EBS, a commercial real estate investor that typically invests in and develops industrial and office projects in the Inland Empire.

In 2019, the company made its first reported local buy in several years when it closed on a 95,000-square-foot Tustin building for nearly $20 million.

The site, located at 14192 Franklin Ave. just south of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway, is currently being eyed for redevelopment, with potential plans to build a new 45,000-square-foot industrial building and renovate the existing Class B flex property.

Former Teva Pharmaceuticals facility was expected to fetch $50M

EBS Realty Management and a Connecticut investor have bought the former manufacturing campus for Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries in Irvine for $24 million.

The Newport Beach-based commercial investor and Penwood Real Estate Management bought the three industrial buildings at 19 Hughes Avenue, the Orange County Business Journal reported. The 6.7-acre site includes three buildings totaling 186,000 square feet, including a main building of 88,000 square feet near the south side of the Great Park.

The property was once occupied by the Tel Aviv-based pharmaceutical firm, once the second largest drugmaker in Orange County.

Last March, Teva announced plans to permanently cease manufacturing operations in Irvine.

Real estate experts had expected the industrial campus to fetch up to $50 million, given recent pricing for new industrial projects.

Patrick Remolacio, a principal with EBS, attributed the lower-than-expected price to weakened market conditions and troubled debt markets since the facilities were listed last year.

The company is weighing several options for the site in light of new market conditions.

Teva’s lease runs out in a few more months, EBS said, at which point the developer will look at redeveloping the site on a build-to-suit or speculative basis, or lease the buildings as they stand.

Redevelopment may pose a challenge because of proposed changes to Irvine’s entitlement process, according to EBS.

“The planning staff has proposed a requirement of conditional use permits for new industrial properties, which would add a considerable amount of time to the entitlement process and would be problematic to future users,” Remolacio told the Business Journal.

In 2021, the EBS-Penwood venture bought the former LT Platinum site next to Angel Stadium at 2030 South State College Boulevard for $43.8 million. The site, once eyed for a mixed-use high-rise development, has a 100,000-square-foot warehouse leased through early next year.

In 2019, the Newport Beach firm bought a 95,000-square-foot industrial building at 14192 Franklin Avenue in Tustin for nearly $20 million. The next year, it leased it to Rivian Automotive, an electric vehicle company based a few blocks away.

EBS has started construction on a six-building, 432,943 SF industrial project in Pomona, CA on behalf of Crow Holdings Industrial. The buildings range in size from 37,590 SF to 146,418 SF. The industrial campus is expected to be completed by March 2017. The EBS team is overseeing entitlement management and construction management.

This is one of two current EBS projects underway on behalf of Crow Holdings Industrial. The other project is a two-building project in the City of Eastvale, CA scheduled to break ground in November 2016. The project totals 156,478 SF, including a 41,026 SF building and a 115,452 SF building.