Chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. is out of the real estate business.
The company sold its Newport Beach headquarters, two glass office towers on MacArthur Boulevard, to Newport Beach-based KBS Realty Advisors LLC last month. The towers are 10 stories each and total 370,000 square feet.
The price: about $110 million, or $295 per square foot, according to sources.
Conexant has leased back both buildings,one tower for 10 years and the other until June 2008, when a sublease with its spinoff Mindspeed Technologies Inc. ends. The starting rent is $1.70 per square foot per month. The chipmaker has options to extend both leases.
The towers previously were owned by Deutsche Bank AG. Conexant leased the buildings from the bank in a special arrangement, according to the company and industry sources.
Under the agreement, Conexant had the right to any increase in value of the buildings, according to Gwen Carlson, a company spokeswoman. She said Conexant got a tax break from the deal.
She said the deal with Deutsche Bank expired and Conexant exercised its right to buy the buildings from the bank and immediately sell them.
Kevin Shannon, Lonnie Riddle and Bob Griffith of Grubb & Ellis Co. represented Conexant in the sale-and-lease deal.
For more on this story, see the April 4 print edition of the Orange County Business Journal.
