The biggest speculated real estate deal of the past week is official: Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc. is buying Equity Office Properties Trust’s former Orange County and Los Angeles buildings from Blackstone Group LP.
Maguire is paying $2.9 billion for buildings across OC and in downtown Los Angeles.
The company said it plans to take on an investor partner in the deal but initially could buy the buildings with its own financing.
The acquisition is set to close in the second quarter.
Maguire is buying 24 office buildings spanning 8.1 million square feet. Twenty-two of the buildings, at about 6.1 million square, are in OC.
Once the deal closes, Maguire is set to own 10.3 million square feet of space here, putting it alongside The Irvine Company in top office space here.
The buildings include office towers in Irvine, Anaheim, Orange, Brea, Garden Grove and elsewhere.
New York-based Blackstone acquired the buildings earlier this month as part of its $39 billion buy of Equity Office. Blackstone is selling off some buildings to cut debt.
Last week, the Irvine Co. said it’s buying Equity’s former buildings in San Diego, 17 high-rise and low-rise office buildings in La Jolla, totaling more than 2 million square feet. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
