Masimo Corp. is moving its corporate headquarters to one of the more distinctive buildings in Orange County.
The maker of patient monitoring devices spent $56 million to buy a 213,400-square-foot building in the Irvine Spectrum from Nikken Inc., a Japanese health and nutritional product maker.
Masimo “intends to use the property primarily as its new corporate and research and development headquarters. This [building] will replace a variety of existing leased facilities” in Irvine, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The new headquarters is at 52 Discovery and fronts the Eastern (133) Toll Road. Masimo wanted a new facility because its Irvine operation was spread among three buildings, including its main office at 40 Parker in the Spectrum, where it has been for the past 10 years.
“With this, we will all be under one roof—there will be more camaraderie, more interaction—it’s good for the company,” said Chief Executive Joe Kiani (see entry in OC 50, Special Report begins on page 15) in an interview last week.
Expectations
The consolidation is expected to “improve our operational efficiencies by combining all of our nonmanufacturing operations in Irvine on one campus,” Kiani told analysts and investors on a May 1 financial conference call.
The device maker intends to occupy the new building by the end of the year, shifting its approximately 570 Orange County employees in “a couple of stages, given the remodeling,” Kiani said.
Nikken built the facility in the late 1990s for a reported $30 million.
“A lot of forward thinking” went into the new building’s original design, according to Kiani, including solar power and electric vehicle outlets.
“From that perspective, there’s not much to do,” he said.
The renovation will also bring “cool stuff” to the building, including a cafeteria, which Kiani said would help in the goal of keeping employees together.
Mark Zuvich and Oliver Ternate of Zuvich Corporate Advisors Inc. represented Masimo. Kurt Bruggeman and Jay Mast of Lee & Associates represented the seller.
Glass Rotunda
Masimo’s future headquarters features a glass rotunda, a distinctive feature that has landed it in several movies during its history.
It served as the headquarters for the fictitious Stark Industries in 2008’s “Iron Man,” and as Globo Gym in 2004’s “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.”
Masimo is open to Hollywood filming once it takes over the building.
“If it is not [disruptive], we will do it again,” Kiani said, adding that he thinks “it’s the most beautiful and inspirational building.”
Masimo’s SEC filing shows it wrapped up the purchase of the building and land on March 12.
Masimo and Nikken had previously amended its original purchase and sale deal and escrow instructions three times to extend feasibility and due-diligence periods, according to the filing.
It also showed that Masimo deposited $2 million in escrow in connection with the pending deal.
2 Corporate Park
Nikken, meanwhile, is moving its U.S. headquarters to an Irvine office at 2 Corporate Park that it bought for just under $10.3 million in January.
That 43,247-square-foot building is on Jamboree Road near The District shopping center. Nikken is scheduled to occupy about a third of it for its own operation, with the remainder of the building leased to other tenants.
