The Irvine Company soon may be asking, “Can you hear me now?”
Sources said the developer is close to buying the five-building Irvine Spectrum office campus of Verizon Wireless, a unit of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc.
The deal would mark a return of 30 acres at 15505 Sand Canyon Ave. to Irvine Co. hands.
Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises Inc. bought the land from the Irvine Co. about six years ago to build Verizon’s 450,000-square-foot low-rise campus. Back then Verizon’s wireless unit was known as AirTouch Cellular.
The Irvine Co. and Lowe Enterprises declined to comment for this story. Lowe Enterprises cited a confidentiality agreement.
In the buy, the Irvine Co. would get class A offices with a blue chip tenant. Verizon is the second largest mobile phone operator in the country behind Cingular Wireless.
Orange County’s office market is gaining momentum, according to first-quarter data. Market trackers Grubb & Ellis Co., CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. and Voit Cos. say rents are on the rise with vacancies falling.
For more on this story, see the May 23 issue of the Business Journal.
