A deal to buy Equity Office Properties Trust’s former Orange County buildings would make Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc. a key player in the market for prime office space here.
The company, which counts more than 3 million square feet in local office buildings and is developing the largest of several towers going up near John Wayne Airport, could end up rivaling OC’s dominant landlord, The Irvine Company.
Maguire is said to be near a $3 billion deal for Equity’s former OC and Los Angeles buildings, which were bought by New York’s Blackstone Group LP as part of its $39 billion acquisition earlier this month. Blackstone is selling off some buildings to cut debt.
Equity Office has been the second-largest landlord in OC, after the Irvine Co. It owned and managed 29 buildings here totaling about 6 million square feet. It’s been the dominant landlord for high-rises in Anaheim and Orange, which count the lowest vacancy rates in the county.
The company, led by Sam Zell before the buyout, owns about 2.4 million square feet of space around John Wayne Airport in Irvine, and another 3 million square feet of space in Central County, according to brokers.
Combined with Maguire’s existing buildings here, the landlord would rival,if not exceed,the Irvine Co. in high-rise office space at time when owners are betting on rising rents.
For more on this story, see the Feb. 19 edition of the Business Journal
