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Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) Executive Managing Directors Jeff Read and Scott Read, and Managing Director Greg Osborne, represented San Francisco-based Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) in the sale of a 9.78-acre land site, which included an approximately 68,807-square-foot office/data center building. Newport Beach, Calif.-based Western Realco LLC and its partner, Boston-based AEW Capital Management, L.P., purchased the Brea, Calif., site for an undisclosed sum.
The 3300 E. Birch Street building was occupied by InfoCrossing, until December 2014. Originally constructed in 1980 by Beckman Coulter to support its large, locally based headquarters operations, the building was home to several data center operators over the years.
Digital Realty, the world’s largest data center REIT with a market capitalization of approximately $9 billion, had owned the property since 2003. The sale was a part of Digital Realty’s overall strategy of selling non-strategic assets to refine its portfolio focus and recycle capital toward core assets. With nearly six acres of excess land on site, in addition to the existing building, Digital Realty was able to sell the property at premium pricing given unprecedented demand for development opportunities in the Orange County marketplace.
Following its acquisition, Western Realco intends to work with the city of Brea to develop a state-of-the-art, approximately 216,000-square-foot industrial building on a speculative basis.
Gary Edwards, Principal with Western Realco, indicates that the Company will continue to remain active in the Orange County industrial marketplace. “We will continue to seek value-add industrial opportunities, including land for speculative development and existing buildings with turn-around potential, to take advantage of strengthening fundamentals in Southern California,” Mr. Edwards said.
Western Realco continues to be one of the most active developers and investors in Orange County, Calif. This is Western Realco’s third industrial land acquisition in Brea in the past three years. The firm also purchased a four-acre site and a 20-acre site within one mile from the Birch Street site.
About Digital Realty Trust, Inc.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. supports the data center and colocation strategies of more than 600 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centers located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Digital Realty’s clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from financial services, cloud and information technology services, to manufacturing, energy, gaming, life sciences and consumer products. www.digitalrealty.com
About Western Realco
Western Realco, established in 1972, is a real estate business firm specializing in the development and acquisition of institutional quality industrial and office properties. For the past forty-two (42) years, Western Realco, either for its own account or acting as a contract developer for institutional clients, has developed over one hundred (100) buildings with an aggregate square footage in excess of 17,000,000 square feet and more than 650 acres throughout California.
About Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is one of the world’s leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF’s 12,000 professionals operate from more than 330 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.
With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF’s full-service platform comprises BGC’s real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.
NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.