Koll Real Estate Bullish on Anaheim

After years of focusing primarily on its beleaguered Bolsa Chica residential development in Huntington Beach, Koll Real Estate Group is once again buying and developing real estate in Orange County. It recently purchased Metro Center, a vacant four-story office building on Orangewood Avenue in Anaheim, from San Francisco lender Bar-K for $5 million.

The Newport Beach company, headed by developer Donald Koll, plans $3 million in renovations for the 85,000-square-foot building, which housed county employees before the municipal bankruptcy. As part of the transaction, Koll Real Estate also acquired the note on a small office building next door.

“We are very bullish on the Anaheim and north Orange County [area],” said James Watson, Koll Real Estate Western Division president. “We see a great growth in this market.”

The company is so bullish on the Anaheim area that it has tied up another 15 acres from Boeing Co. at Miraloma Avenue and Miller Street to build a 320,000-square-foot speculative warehouse project. The project should break ground in June and open by the end of the year, Watson said.

These projects are the first local developments by Koll Real Estate in several years. During California’s real estate slump, it concentrated on other markets, such as Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Although Watson declined to reveal any other acquisitions or developments the company is working on, he said it owns three other parcels in downtown Anaheim that it plans to market to large corporate users. “We’re as active now as we ever were,” he said.