Prudential Real Estate Investors and McCarthy Cook & Co. acquire MetroCenter office campus in Costa Mesa, Calif.

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Prudential Real Estate Investors has acquired MetroCenter at South Coast, an office campus in Costa Mesa, Calif., in a joint venture with McCarthy Cook & Co., a real estate investment and development firm specializing in office, life science and mixed-use real estate assets, the company announced today. Prudential Real Estate Investors, operating on behalf of institutional investors, is the real estate investment management and advisory business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), and operates as Pramerica Real Estate Investors in markets outside the Americas, Korea and Japan.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Located on a 15-acre campus, MetroCenter includes three 12-story office buildings and a three-story health club facility across 800,826 square feet. Situated near the coastal residential communities of Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar, it is within short walking distance to Orange County’s high concentration of luxury retailers, upscale restaurants, art and entertainment venues and high-quality hotels.

The joint venture intends to renovate MetroCenter by adding on-site amenities to create a campus-like, creative work environment. Expected areas of investment include a plaza renovation with collaborative outdoor space and updated lobbies and corridors, and the addition of a conference center, tenant lounge and rooftop decks.

McCarthy Cook & Co., which formerly owned and is headquartered at MetroCenter, will serve as the property manager and leasing agent.

“With projections for outsized employment growth relative to the nation and limited new office construction, we believe Orange County’s office market has considerable room to grow before approaching pre-recession peaks,” said Kevin R. Smith, head of the Americas at PREI. “We are pleased to partner with McCarthy Cook & Co. to transition MetroCenter into a more dynamic, amenity-rich workplace for current and prospective tenants, while also providing our clients with an investment opportunity that capitalizes on the area’s rapidly improving economic fundamentals.”

Edward Cook, co-CEO with Tom McCarthy of McCarthy Cook, said, “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with PREI to transform an extremely well-located property into an inspiring campus where people can work together in a collaborative indoor and outdoor environment. We think the new MetroCenter will set the standard in Orange County as the office location where successful firms choose to locate.”

McCarthy Cook & Co. was formed in 1995 as a real estate investment and development company. Since 1995, McCarthy Cook & Co. has completed approximately $4.5 billion in transactions representing approximately 10 million square feet of commercial office and mixed-used projects. During the same period, the firm has developed or has under development approximately 1.6 million square feet of office, retail and residential projects. The professionals at MCC specialize in the investment, development and operation of commercial real estate properties in the western United States.

Prudential Real Estate Investors is the global real estate investment business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), and operates as Pramerica Real Estate Investors in markets outside of the Americas, Korea and Japan. Redefining the real estate investing landscape since 1970, PREI has professionals in 18 cities in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific with deep local knowledge and expertise, and gross assets under management of $62.6 billion ($46.3 billion net) as of September 30, 2015. PREI’s tenured team offers to its global client base a broad range of real estate investment vehicles that span the risk-return spectrum across core, core plus, value-add, debt, securities, and specialized investment strategies. For more information, visit www.prei.com.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with more than $1 trillion of assets under management as of September 30, 2015, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160104006214/en/

Prudential Financial, Inc.
John Chartier, 973-802-9829
[email protected]

Source: Prudential Real Estate Investors

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