Struggling savings and loan operator Downey Financial Corp. is looking to sell the posh Newport Beach office buildings that long have served as its headquarters in an attempt to raise cash amid the ongoing financial crisis.
Downey’s headquarters is part of the Bayview Corporate Center, a midrise office campus that sits near Jamboree Road and South Bristol Street, near the upscale auto dealerships that straddle Newport Beach’s city line with Irvine.
The buildings that Downey owns at 3501 Jamboree Road include two connected six-story buildings. They total about 320,000 square feet of office space. The buildings are managed by DSL Service Co., a real estate development and property management subsidiary of Downey.
The high-profile buildings were built for Downey in 1988 and hold the bulk of its administrative offices. The savings and loan,whose stock has fallen some 90% in the past year as it has dealt with fallout from its marketing of adjustable rate mortgages,occupies about 70% of the buildings.
It’s unknown whether Downey would relocate any of its operations to less expensive offices following a sale of the buildings.
The most likely scenario is that Downey will lease back much of the office space and stay as a tenant after the buildings are sold.
CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.,whose Newport Beach offices are also in the buildings,is marketing the property. The brokerage hopes for a sale by year’s end. Officials declined to discuss any possible deal.
For more on this story, read the Oct. 6 issue of the Business Journal.
