Spieker to Buy Brea Office Complex, Other Western Properties

BREA — Spieker Properties Inc. said Monday it has agreed to acquire about $300 million of commercial property on the West Coast, including Brea Park Center, a two-building 142,000-square-foot office complex.

The Brea complex, which was built in 1975 and is 78% occupied, will be purchased from the San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Assn. for $11.7 million. The company said the purchase price is 65% of what it would cost to build similar buildings at the site at Kraemer Boulevard and Saturn Street.

Local brokers say the older, unspectacular buildings are a good investment because of their proximity to Los Angeles and because of the limited supply of office buildings in the area. Vacancy rates in Brea haves been running under 9% and rents have been rising steadily.

Spieker, a real estate investment trust based in Menlo Park, also said it plans to purchase seven other properties in California and the Pacific Northwest during the first quarter. It will fund the acquisitions with proceeds from an upcoming secondary offering of 8 million shares.

Over the last 18 months Spieker has spent more than $100 million in Orange County for properties ranging from a 476,000-square-foot group of office buildings in The City in Orange to 48-acre Stadium Plaza Business Park in Anaheim.