Tishman Speyer, Mitsui Fudosan get $85M construction loan for OC project

Abigail Nehring

Two warehouses will rise at Bake Freeway Business Park in Irvine

Tishman Speyer has secured financing for its debut as an industrial developer in Southern California.

The New York-based Rockefeller Center landlord and Mitsui Fudosan America scored an $84.7 million construction loan from JPMorgan Chase to develop a pair of warehouses totaling 379,168 square feet on the western half of the Bake
Freeway Business Park lot in Irvine, according to Orange County property records and a spokesperson for the joint venture. The firms picked Orange County construction firm KPRS as general contractor for the first phase of the project, which is fully entitled and on track to wrap up next summer, the spokesperson said.

After the two buildings at 15700 and 15800 Bake Parkway are complete, the partners will shift their focus to the eastern half of the 31.8-acre lot where they’ll add two more slightly smaller industrial buildings before calling it a day in Irvine. The wedge-shaped property off exit 92 on the 5 Freeway is among the largest of several industrial developments underway on the 1,300-acre former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station as the decommissioned site slowly metamorphosizes into Orange County Great Park.

On another parcel nearby, hedge fund manager Frederick Taylor is spearheading the development of a data center spanning 42.1 acres. Tishman Speyer teamed up with the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese real estate giant Mitsui Fudosan in 2022 to hunt down the best industrial development opportunities across the country and quickly homed in on several deals.

That includes a last-mile warehouse at 2225 Jerrold Avenue in San Francisco, which the joint venture purchased for $32.8 million last year, and 8 Centennial Drive in Peabody, Mass., which the partners snapped up this year for $77 million.

The Bake Freeway Business Park deal in Irvine is their largest acquisition so far. The joint venture paid FivePoint Holdings $145.9 million for the site in late 2023, as The Real Deal previously reported. It came with development rights already in place — no small consideration for builders in Southern California. Demand for warehouse space in the market currently outpaces supply, according to Andy Burke, industrial managing director at Tishman Speyer. “Bake Freeway Business Park will bring brand new industrial space to a location that has been historically underserved,” Burke said in a statement.

Future tenants could include logistics companies or manufacturers, according to the joint venture. The two industrial buildings now underway will include 25 raised loading docks and two on the ground level, plus plenty of parking space, with 473 stalls surrounding the buildings. The joint venture also plans to take advantage of the potential signage revenue on the site, which abuts the 5 Freeway. A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear if brokers were involved in the construction loan.