Firm Buys 2 Buildings in Huntington Beach

Bental Development Co., a Canadian firm, said Friday that it had bought two Huntington Beach office buildings for $34 million.

The company acquired the 12-story One Pacific Tower and the six-story One Pacific Plaza II, both part of a 14-acre office park called Pacific Plaza at Beach Boulevard and the San Diego Freeway.

The properties were sold by a group of banks led by First Interstate, which had taken back the buildings a year ago from a Phoenix developer who ran into financial problems, according to Bental officials.

Bental said the purchase was its “biggest and most visible in Orange County” and was a “major step” toward becoming “a major force in Southern California real estate.”

The buildings, however, are only about half-leased. The six-story building opened in 1985 and the 12-story building about two years ago. They contain 284,000 square feet of office space.

But they were leasing briskly until the original developer ran into financial problems, said Ashley Powell, Bental’s real estate development manager.

Bental will market the building to tenants who want to be near shops and restaurants, but who “don’t want the traffic congestion you get a little further south” of Huntington Beach, said Powell.

Bental, based in Vancouver, is one of western Canada’s largest developers with major office buildings in downtown Vancouver and elsewhere. The company opened its first U.S. office--in Orange--three years ago and is building a 10-story, 200,000-square-foot office building in Santa Ana at 17th Street and the Costa Mesa Freeway.