Anonymous
Source: Hayes Commercial
A six-building industrial / R&D campus on 11.9 acres in Goleta was purchased in an off-market transaction by Majestic Asset Management. The asset was part of a portfolio of commercial properties managed by The Towbes Group. The closing price of $50.7 million represents the fourth-highest price on record for a commercial (non-hotel) property on the south coast of Santa Barbara County.
Francois DeJohn and Steve Hayes of Hayes Commercial Group represented the buyer in the transaction.
“Majestic has become the most prominent value-add management firm on the South Coast,” DeJohn said. “They are always looking to invest in buildings and elevate them to top-quality projects. Majestic has changed the office/R&D landscape in Goleta, while facilitating the growth of the area’s tech, engineering, medical device, and defense sector.”
Located at 315-346 Bollay Drive and 320-340 Stork Road, the 194,625 square-foot business park is prominently positioned near the corner of Storke and Hollister in Goleta’s bustling tech and engineering core. It has always been a multi-tenant project and is currently occupied by Lockheed Martin, Alcon Research, Electro Optical Industries, The Good Work Space, DeLabs, and Santa Barbara Imaging Systems. One of the buildings is currently available for lease, recently vacated by Inogen when they expanded to the adjacent Cabrillo Business Park.
An entity created by Michael Towbes, a local businessman and philanthropist, owned the property since 2000. Following Mr. Towbes’ passing in April 2017, the Towbes estate sold three commercial assets in recent years, including the AppFolio campus at 50-90 Castilian Dr, in 2019. Consistent with Mr. Towbes’ long history of support for the community and philanthropic leadership, proceeds from the sale of these assets will benefit several prominent local non-profit organizations.
Based in Agoura Hills, Majestic Asset Management owns, develops and manages investment property primarily in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties. Their portfolio in the greater Santa Barbara area has included about 30 successful commercial and apartment properties, in addition to their portfolio in other regions.
Majestic was Goleta’s busiest landlord in 2021, signing 13 leases that comprised 65% of the total square footage leased. This purchase marks Majestic’s fifth significant acquisition in the Goleta market since 2018. The previous four are:
- 839-879 Ward Dr (Tech Park @ Ward) consists of 3 building totaling 125,000 sf and is 100% occupied;
- 120-175 Cremona Dr (Tech Park @ Cremona) consists of 3 buildings totaling 191,000 sf and is 100% occupied;
- 110-150 Castilian Dr (Tech Park @ Castilian) consists of 3 buildings totaling 66,000 sf and is 100% occupied;
- 7414-7418 Hollister Ave (Tech Park @ Hollister) was purchased completely vacant in 2020, consists of 175,000 sf which is currently 72% occupied, with a lease out for execution that will bring the project to 100% occupancy.
After relatively slow office and industrial sales activity in 2021, Goleta has seen two substantial sales so far in 2022. Prior to this sale, 6500 Hollister Ave was purchased by an investor for $21 million in January. The Storke and Bollay transaction is the fourth largest commercial sale ever recorded on the South Coast after the sales of 3805 State St for $63 million in 2021, 50-90 Castilian Dr for $61 million in 2020, and 1 & 71 S Los Carneros Rd for $53 million in 2006.
Majestic is renaming the campus Tech Park @ Engage. Inquiries regarding leasing the vacant building at 326 Bollay Dr should be directed to Francois DeJohn and Steve Hayes at Hayes Commercial Group.
346 Bollay Dr has been home to Lockheed Martin for many years.
Many of these buildings are getting long in the tooth and not in great repair. I work at a Magestic property and they have been dumping money into the building to repair the years of neglect. I suspect putting in solar would require so much electrical upgrading, it would not be practical, plus there is the ever present threat of SCE connection fees skyrocketing (was just blocked this year again). I have resisted solar because I know within a few years, my bill will be right back to where it is with all the net access fees, just like how my cable internet bill is as high as it was when i “cut the cord”…they will always get their money.
PS, the city of Goleta doesn’t even have panels on their building, even though it’s been proposed for years. They put one doofy solar car charger that’s often broken or not producing power and is free, so people squat on it all day.