Meridian, a full-service real estate developer and owner of medical real estate, has closed escrow on a 53,500-square-foot, two-story medical office building (MOB) in Santa Ana, Calif. The purchase price was $20.35 million and Meridian plans to invest an additional $5 million in building improvements.

The property is a 4.8-acre parcel adjacent to some of Orange County’s newest retail and office projects.
Constructed in 2000, the is currently vacant. Originally built as a special-use building for a culinary and arts school, the venture went bankrupt earlier this year eventually prompting the sale.

Renovation plans include updating the common areas, landscaping, and major mechanical systems to fully convert the building to a medical office. During escrow, Meridian was able to secure its first tenant, a large healthcare provider, for roughly half of the building on a long-term lease. Meridian will be marketing the second-floor space (approximately 26,000 square feet) to medical office tenants.

Jon Sweeney, president at CXI Realty of Long Beach, Calif., and George Thomson, senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank in Irvine, Calif., represented the seller, a local private investor, in the transaction. Meridian was represented by John Scruggs, managing director at Newmark Knight Frank in Irvine, as well as Justin Hodgdon, senior managing director, also from Newmark Knight Frank’s Irvine office. Scruggs and Thomson will manage the continued leasing of the building.