Harbor Associates, in a joint venture with investment management firm Farallon Capital Management, has acquired the Yorba Linda Commerce Center - a 280,000-square-foot small-bay industrial campus in Orange County, California - for $81 million. The off-market transaction equates to approximately $289 per square foot. Harbor Associates operates in a joint venture with The Bascom Group, focusing on acquiring and repositioning under-performing commercial assets throughout Southern California.

Located at 3910 Prospect Avenue in Yorba Linda, the 16.5-acre property was 98% leased at the time of closing. Developed in 1987, the campus consists of 10 single- and multi-tenant buildings housing 83 units ranging in size from 1,200 to 24,000 square feet. Each unit offers dedicated office space and clear-height loading docks of up to 22 feet - well-suited for the logistics, light manufacturing, and service businesses that drive Orange County's industrial demand.

Vancouver-based QuadReal Property Group provided a $56.3 million acquisition loan for the property. CBRE's Shaun Moothart, Bob Ybarra, and Andrew Post represented Harbor Associates in securing the financing, while QuadReal's Brandon Bachner handled the transaction in-house. The seller - a private family that had owned the property for more than 30 years - was represented by Gary Martinez of Ashwill Associates.

The acquisition highlights just how competitive Orange County's small-bay industrial market has become. According to CBRE data, the vacancy rate for Orange County industrial space under 24,000 square feet sits at approximately 2%, while the rate for spaces under 10,000 square feet is near 1% - compared to 5.7% for the county's broader industrial market. Rich McEvoy, Principal at Harbor Associates, noted that Yorba Linda Commerce Center maintained occupancy above 98% for the past decade, calling Orange County's shallow-bay segment 'arguably the healthiest shallow-bay market in the entire country.'

Harbor Associates has been involved in the renovation, repositioning, and development of 40 commercial projects totaling over 6 million square feet valued at more than $1.5 billion. Farallon Capital Management, Harbor's joint venture partner in this transaction, manages approximately $39 billion in capital and commitments for a global client base that includes college endowments, charitable foundations, pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, and high-net-worth individuals and family offices.

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