Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc., a maker of ceramic-based body armor and other products for the defense, industrial and commercial markets that was once among Orange County’s largest public companies, has sold what’s said to be the only property it owned in the area, about seven months after an ownership change for the business.
The company recently sold its Irvine industrial manufacturing plant at 17466 Daimler St. for $8.9 million.
The body armor manufacturer has occupied the 40,000-square-foot property since 2002.
BLT Enterprises of Santa Monica is the new owner, paying $222.50 per square foot for the building not far from the headquarters of OC’s largest public company, Edwards Lifesciences Corp.
Ceradyne’s Sales
Founder Joel Moskowitz started Ceradyne as a $5,000 investment with three friends in 1967.
Moskowitz, who died in 2015, was a resident of Corona del Mar.
The company was among OC’s top 25 public companies in the early and mid-2000s, with sales topping $500 million, thanks to its military contracts during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It makes bulletproof vest inserts for soldiers, as well as armor patches for military vehicles.
Ceradyne was acquired in 2012 by Maplewood, Minn.-based 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) in a deal valued at $860 million.
News reports indicate the 3M business unit that Ceradyne was part of was sold once again at the start of 2020, as part of the sale of 3M’s armor business to British manufacturer Avon Rubber—a $116 million cash deal.
Nearly 280 employees were included as part of that deal, which also gave Avon the rights to the Ceradyne brand.
In addition to Irvine, the firm counted manufacturing sites in Kentucky, Michigan, China and Canada at points.
Ceradyne still leases an additional 100,000 square feet in the county, according to CoStar Group Inc. records.
The Irvine building was sold by an affiliate of 3M, property records indicate.
BLT Buyer
Ceradyne is slated to stay on at the Irvine facility as tenant in a short-term lease.
BLT Enterprises plans to “update the existing bones” of the property to improve it for light industrial and manufacturing uses, the company said in an email to the Business Journal.
The building is next to the 55 Freeway and MacArthur Boulevard, “allowing for ease of access throughout the region.”
BLT, a private investor with $2 billion in acquisitions and developments, has made a number of OC investments over the years, ranging from offices in Aliso Viejo and Lake Forest, industrial buildings in Garden Grove and car dealerships in Santa Ana.
BLT moved its headquarters from Oxnard to Santa Monica in 2016, and has been ramping up its commercial investments over the past few decades, specifically in the industrial and office realm.
The company describes itself as a long-term buy-and-hold owner; it’s looking for additional local investment opportunities.
The Orange County buy comes at the same time as two other Southern California industrial acquisitions for the firm. It recently invested $52.6 million in the three sites totaling north of 191,700. Along with Irvine, the buys were in San Diego and Los Angeles.
“Even through these uncertain times, we’ve continued to seek opportunities to acquire properties in California markets with long-term demand drivers in place,” said founder and President Bernard Huberman.
“While located in different regions of Southern California, these three new additions to our portfolio are all well aligned with our proven strategy of acquiring quality industrial properties in excellent, accessible locations near major transportation hubs.”
