Regis Homes, SARES to Merge Operations : Real estate: The new company will control 10,000 apartment units and $2 billion of commercial and industrial property.

Two Southland-based real estate giants, Regis Homes of Newport Beach and SARES Co. of Irvine, said Thursday that they will merge to become one of California’s largest property owners.

The new company, SARES-Regis Group, will control a $2-billion, 10-million-square-foot portfolio of commercial and industrial buildings and 10,000 apartment units. It will also boast ownership of 9,000 acres of developable land, much of it in the most sought-after areas of affluent Orange County and the fast-growing suburbs of Sacramento.

“It looks like California now has a new, major player in the real estate game on its hands,” said Stephen Roulac, a partner in the San Francisco-based consulting group that bears his name.

Regis has built about 8,000 houses and apartments in California over the last decade, from upscale developments in pricey Newport Beach to entry-level homes in Bakersfield.

SARES, which stands for “Strategically Aligned Real Estate Services,” owns or manages nearly 100 primarily mid-sized office and industrial projects, about half of which are in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

John Hagestad, president of SARES, said the two companies merged to diversify their respective businesses and “capitalize on each other’s strengths.”

Real estate experts said the marriage will be a good match.

“SARES doesn’t have any ‘glamour’ property, but the buildings they have are very well run,” said Mark Klionsky of Commercial Property News, a widely read trade publication based in New York. “The apartment market is where all the money is going to right now, so they (SARES) are certainly moving in the right direction.”

Hagestad said most of the combined 450 people who now work for SARES and Regis will keep their jobs, but about 10 positions could be eliminated.

“We’re not planning any immediate layoffs, but there’s always some type of job duplication when this kind of merger takes place,” Hagestad said. “I’d guess that most of the jobs (that may be eliminated) will be through attrition.”

Current Regis employees in Newport Beach will begin moving into SARES’ nearby Irvine headquarters over the next few months, Hagestad said.

Geoffrey Stack, president of Regis Homes, said the merger won’t affect Regis’ plans to build about 1,300 units of moderate-income condominiums in several Southland communities, including Laguna Niguel in Orange County and Agoura in the northwest corner of Los Angeles County.

“If anything, we’ll be able to build even more homes after the merger because our size will make it all that easier to attract capital,” Stack said.