Allergan Inc. has quietly bought office buildings and land around its Irvine campus in what looks like a bid to create a buffer from condominiums and apartments that are set to envelop much of the area around John Wayne Airport in the next decade.
The drug maker has bought three buildings near the backside of its sprawling Irvine campus just off Jamboree Road. In one case, a developer had planned to demolish offices and build 186 homes.
Now the office buildings are likely to stay under Allergan’s ownership.
The buys are the first example of a developer selling to one of the area’s longtime businesses rather than fight to push through homes over their objections, according to brokers.
Allergan didn’t comment on the buys.
In the first quarter, a real estate arm of Allergan bought two office buildings at 2400 and 2402 Michelson Drive, totaling about 70,000 square feet.
Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co., which has an Irvine office, sold the buildings. The 2400 Michelson building is home to medical device maker TherOx Inc.
Allergan also bought roughly four acres of Von Karman Avenue land with a small warehouse on it next to the acquired buildings on Michelson. San Jose-based contract electronics maker Sanmina-SCI Corp. sold the land. Sanmina used to make circuit boards at the site before moving operations to Costa Mesa a few years ago.
What Allergan paid for the buildings wasn’t disclosed.
Based on a recent sale of an office building on Von Karman, Allergan could have paid as much as $250 a square foot for the office space, a figure driven up by homebuilder demand in the area and the company’s willingness to pay to prevent development around it.
Trammell Crow had sought to develop condos on the Michelson sites. Plans called for 186 homes in five-story buildings backing up to Allergan’s campus.
Irvine-based consultant Starpointe Ventures had worked to get Trammell Crow’s land zoned for homes and was hoping to get city approval for the project this quarter.
Allergan was set to oppose any housing bordering its campus, said Tim Strader Jr., president of Starpointe.
“It became clear that Allergan was going to fight the entitlement,” said Strader, who has worked with Lennar Corp., Opus West Corp. and Windstar Communities on getting approvals for homes around John Wayne Airport.
The Irvine Business Complex around the airport has seen a backlash from businesses as city officials and developers seek to bring thousands of residents to an area long known for offices, plants and warehouses.
Other businesses in the area, including Royalty Carpet Mills Inc. and St. John Knits International Inc., have raised concerns about putting residents next to plants and warehouses.
Last year, Irvine took another look at plans for housing in the area and came up with a plan that limited where high-rise condos and other dense housing could go.
The City Council is set to take up the plan on June 13, after input from developers and businesses. Close to 30 development projects are on the books for the area.
One of the larger projects is Lennar’s Central Park West, about a block from Allergan’s campus.
The Aliso Viejo-based office of Lennar has started work on about 1,400 homes, along with shops and offices at the 43-acre site, which used to house a Parker Hannifin Corp. plant.
Another project in the works is Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp.’s 2323 Main St. development, which would bring 444 condos to the corner of Main Street and Von Karman.
Shea Homes, part of Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co., wants to build 171 condos at its 2851 Alton project at the corner of Alton Parkway and Murphy Avenue.
Allergan has a lot at stake. The company, known for its Botox wrinkle remover, employs about 2,500 people at its campus. And it’s spent millions expanding the campus.
In 2004, Allergan added a $75 million research and development laboratory with 175,000 square feet of lab space. In 2005, it built a $50 million biologics facility.
Allergan moved to its Irvine campus in the mid-1960s from Santa Ana. At the time, the area was known as the University Industrial Park and had little development.
