Edwards Lifesciences Corp., Orange County’s largest public company with a market value of about $29 billion, appears to be making strides to buy a site next to its Irvine headquarters for a large expansion.
The medical device maker, whose Irvine campus on Red Hill Avenue is about 650,000 square feet, has been identified for several months as the likely buyer of the former Royalty Carpet Mills Inc. headquarters, which sits on about 9 acres.
The longtime area carpet maker abruptly ended operations last year and has sold additional industrial properties in Irvine and Santa Ana for about $60 million.
Its former headquarters, near the intersection of Red Hill and Alton Parkway, has about 205,000 square feet of office and industrial space, and was put up for lease or sale after Royalty Carpet closed.
Brokers with the Irvine office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. have the listing for the property, whose estimated value is $25 million.
Edwards executives previously expressed interest in buying the site to further expand operations, and recently filed plans with Irvine’s planning department suggest a deal is near.
Edwards filed a proposal last month to alter its campus’ master plan “to add an adjacent parcel to the campus and to allow for additional office, parking lot improvements and a traffic signal.”
A time frame for modifications being taken up with the city hasn’t been disclosed, and the impending acquisition wasn’t disclosed in Edwards’ annual report filed last month.
Edwards has upgraded its existing property in recent years, adding facilities and employee amenities. It employs about 4,400 people in OC.
The company has recently made other area real estate deals. Last year it paid a reported $18.5 million for a roughly 70,000-square-foot Alton Parkway building next to its headquarters.
Edwards’ Irvine facilities are used for research and development, regulatory and clinical affairs, manufacturing, marketing and administration.
Done Deal
An affiliate of Newport Beach-based KBS Realty Advisors has closed on its largest local buy in years, the 21-story City Tower office in Orange.
About a month ago, I reported that investment affiliate KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT was under contract to buy the tower at 333 City Boulevard W. next to the Outlets of Orange shopping center and a few blocks from Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove.
The deal closed on March 6, according to regulatory filings.
KBS paid $147.3 million for the 533,656-square-foot tower, or nearly $344 per square foot, the biggest office deal in Central OC in several years.
City Tower was sold by New York-based Torchlight Investors in a deal brokered by Kevin Shannon, Paul Jones, Ken White and Blake Bokosky with the local capital markets team of Newmark Knight Frank.
KBS said in regulatory filings that it would use a $103.4 million loan it recently got from Compass Bank to help fund the purchase.
The new owners say they’ll upgrade the tower, which is about 76% leased.
“In the coming year, KBS plans to make additional improvements that can add to the property’s appeal and provide a top-notch tenant experience,” it said in a statement.
Renovations will include updates to the exterior entrance and the lobby, an indoor-outdoor tenant lounge, and a fitness facility.
