Developer to build approximately 145,000 SF of premium flex/R&D and office space
The transaction consisted of five parcels of fully entitled commercial land totaling approximately 11.36 acres at the Cabrillo Business Park near the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport in Goleta. The Cabrillo Business Park is home to the headquarters of footwear manufacturer Deckers Brands, as well as FLIR, UCSB, Ergomotion and Texas Instruments.
The contiguous parcels, located on Coromar Drive near Hollister Avenue and Los Carneros Road, will accommodate four single-story flex/R&D buildings and one two-story office building ranging in size from roughly 16,750 SF to 44,924 SF.
Paul Gamberdella, Bob Tuler and Gene Deering of Radius Commercial Real Estate represented the seller, Sares-Regis Group, while Christos Celmayster of Hayes Commercial Group represented the buyer, RAF Pacifica Group.
The specific terms of the sale are confidential, though the parcels were listed at a combined $26,066,560. In terms of price, it is the highest-value purchase of commercial land on the South Coast in more than 10 years.
With this deal, Sares-Regis has sold its last entitled lots at Cabrillo Business Park. Sares-Regis purchased the land for the 92-acre project in 1998, developed a master plan and pursued entitlements to create the largest business park of its kind between Los Angeles and San Jose.
“We are very pleased a company with RAF Pacifica’s history of building first class buildings is completing the final steps of our vision for the master planned project,” said Steve Fedde of Sares-Regis Group.
RAF Pacifica Group intends to begin construction of the four flex/R&D buildings in early 2019 with delivery by fall of 2020. The new buildings will be marketed for lease by Celmayster and Francois DeJohn, also of Hayes Commercial. DeJohn is also currently marketing another entitled commercial parcel for sale in the park at 6701 Hollister Ave.
Steve Leonard of RAF Pacifica said, “We look forward to bringing open-plan, high-end space and energy-efficient buildings to this thriving business community.”
RAF Pacifica Group has a remarkable track record of commercial development in Southern California. Re-envisioning industrial property is one of the firm’s specialties, and RAF Pacifica designed and trademarked a new product type called “creative industrial.” These properties integrate a creative office, corporate headquarters aesthetic into state-of-the-art industrial buildings to accommodate users from numerous industries.
“RAF Pacifica’s goal is to create product at a level of quality that doesn’t exist in the South Coast market,” Celmayster said. “The first four buildings will be unique flex space with soaring ceilings, suitable for creative office, R&D, or any combination of the two.”
Radius and Hayes have a long history of sale and lease transactions at Cabrillo Business Park. Tuler co-brokered Sares-Regis’ acquisition of the park in 1998. Gamberdella also helped manage DuPont Corporation’s lease of 148,000 SF on another portion of the park, which was later purchased by FLIR in a transaction that Hayes brokered. This purchase represents Celmayster’s second sale within the Cabrillo Business Park.
“It will be rewarding to see this new product come out of the ground and add much needed, high-quality industrial, R&D and office inventory to the Goleta market in what promises to be one of the South Coast’s most dynamic business parks,” said Gamberdella.
RAF Pacifica Group is based in Encinitas, California and has an office in Santa Barbara. Several of their recent projects give an indication of the type of construction that will be undertaken at the Cabrillo Business Park site. Their “vec•tor” project in Carlsbad, for example, is a 171,098 square-foot facility featuring 30’ clear height ceilings, extensive glass, and an outdoor fire pit. The property offers ample parking, grade-level and dock-high loading doors, and a glass-centric design to promote natural lighting for users.