Great Pacific REIT Plans to Go Public

NEWPORT BEACH — Great Pacific Real Estate Investment Trust in Newport Beach expects to go public with a $20-million stock offering sometime in mid-February, company spokesman John W. Barrett said.

Great Pacific, which filed an REIT prospectus in September with the Securities and Exchange Commission, plans to make construction loans for affordable housing projects in California, Nevada, Arizona and other Western states.

The company had originally proposed a $15-million to $25-million offering. But in an amended stock filing this week, the company said Baraban Securities in Los Angeles has agreed to underwrite a $20-million offering.

Great Pacific is a mortgage REIT and operates somewhat like a bank. It sells investors shares of ownership and then invests in construction loans, but not the underlying real estate, which is the case in an equity REIT.

Jack Dangelo, company president, announced that Great Pacific’s first three housing developments are: Whitehawk Palm Desert, a 288-home development near Palm Desert, with houses priced as low as $165,000; Evolutions at Vail Ranch, a Temecula development with 187 houses priced from $108,500 to $153,000; and Rancho California, a Temecula development with 170 homes priced as low as $150,000.