B. Braun Weighs Irvine Land Sale, Development
By VITA REED
Medical device maker B. Braun McGaw Inc. is looking at selling nearly 20 acres of land around its Irvine campus for possible apartments or office space.
Irvine planners have approved a tentative parcel map for the land, according to associate city planner Diana Blaisure. But the company hasn’t submitted a complete master plan or filed applications for general plan and zoning changes, she said.
A B. Braun McGaw official was careful when asked about what his company plans to do with the 19.65-acre piece of land, which is made up of nine parcels bordered by McGaw Avenue, Alton Parkway and Jamboree Road.
“We’re exploring all sorts of possibilities,” said Hugh Morrison, a vice president.
But, Morrison said, “the office market is not too robust at this time.”
B. Braun McGaw’s plans gained attention in Martin Brower’s Orange County Report, a monthly real estate newsletter.
“Yet another company, B. Braun, a medical supply firm, is said to be considering applying for entitlements to develop 740 (apartment) units on Jamboree Road between Alton and McGaw,” the newsletter’s March edition said.
“The biggest sticking point for the city appears to be added traffic brought on by the apartments and its effect on existing streets and intersections,” the report said. “Philosophically, the shift to greater residential use is consistent with the Irvine city council’s desire for housing that will create demand for the proposed Centerline light rail.”
B. Braun can’t sell the property for any use, whether apartment or office, until the parcel map is officially logged by the Orange County Recorder’s office, according to the city’s Blaisure.
“There’s a long, long way (before we) determine what will happen,” she said.
Requests for a general plan amendment and a zoning change would be reviewed for at least nine to 12 months by city planners after they are received, Blaisure said.
B. Braun McGaw, a unit of Germany’s Braun Melsungen AG, makes intravenous solutions, infusion pumps and hospital pharmacy items. B. Braun McGaw is the third-largest medical device company in Orange County with some 1,300 local workers. B. Braun bought McGaw Inc. from Ivax Corp., a Miami-based drug maker, in 1997 for some $320 million.
