SteelWave, Invesco Grab LA Times Facility in SoCal

By Barbra Murray

The Press, Costa Mesa, Calif.

The 24-acre former L.A. Times printing facility in Orange County, Calif., gets a new owner and a new future. In their first joint venture, SteelWave and Invesco Real Estate recently acquired The Press from Tribune Media and Kearny Real Estate Co. in an approximately $65 million transaction.

“This is a jewel of a property,” Murray McQueen, president of Tribune Real Estate Holdings, a subsidiary of Tribune Media, said in a prepared statement. Tribune and Kearny abandoned the creative office redevelopment plan they had for The Press after receiving SteelWave’s off-market offer to purchase the property. SteelWave and Invesco relied on HFF to arrange acquisition financing for the 361,600-square-foot asset. All parties involved are remaining mum on the source of the loan; however, an industry source cites Square Mile Capital as the lender.

Located at 1350 South Coast Dr., off Sunflower Ave. in Costa Mesa, The Press had served the L.A. Times and three of its community newspapers until the facility closed its doors in 2010. The structure consists of a 249,100-square-foot printing press warehouse and an attached building encompassing 112,400 square feet of office space. SteelWave and Invesco have big plans for the property.

The Press, Re-Envisioned

The Press will be transformed into a 420,000-square-foot creative office development featuring a design paying homage to the property’s newspaper history and a high-end public market as a centerpiece. “Our vision is to redevelop the asset to be the single most significant creative office opportunity in Orange County, if not all of Southern California,” Seth Hiromura, managing director of acquisitions and development with SteelWave, said in prepared remarks. “Where we think this project and submarket can be taken to the next level is by creating a very dramatic public food hall-based retail concept.”  

The site was re-entitled under the previous ownership’s watch to accommodate as much as 650,000 square feet, so SteelWave and Invesco will leave room for growth at the property. The Press will take shape over the next two years.

Image courtesy of SteelWave