Newport Beach-based dental products maker Glidewell Laboratories, already one of the largest owner-users of commercial real estate in the area around John Wayne Airport, has made what appears to be its largest-ever local property acquisition.
The privately held firm, which is estimated to employ at least 2,000 workers at its headquarters on MacArthur Boulevard and a handful of nearby locations in Irvine, recently completed the purchase of a two-building office complex a few blocks from the airport.
The property, Dupont Centre, totals about 250,000 square feet. It’s at the intersection of Von Karman Avenue and Dupont Drive in Irvine.
The complex includes an eight-story office at 2201 Dupont Drive that’s nearly 150,000 square feet, a five-story building totaling another 100,000 square feet at 2301 Dupont Drive, and a 1,000-car parking structure.
The larger building is about 93% leased, and Glidewell already occupies about 20,000 square feet of space there, according to records from real estate market tracker CoStar Group Inc.
The smaller building is 73% full, according to CoStar’s records. Law firm Wolfe & Wyman LLP is its largest tenant, occupying a little more than 20,000 square feet, records show.
Dupont Centre sold for about $87.9 million, or roughly $350 per square foot, property records indicate.
A unit of Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. sold the complex. Lincoln was represented by CBRE Group Inc. in the transaction, while Glidewell represented itself.
Lincoln, which owns a number of other offices in the vicinity of Dupont Centre, will continue providing property management services at the complex, whose tenant base includes units of Dell Inc., the local office of retailer TJ Maxx, and a host of law firms.
Glidewell’s occupancy plans for the offices have not been disclosed. Executives with the company couldn’t be reached for comment.
Newport Beach resident Jim Glidewell started the company in 1970 after attending a two-year dental technology program at Orange Coast College.
It’s gone from $39,000 in yearly sales to over an estimated $500 million.
He remains president and chief executive of the company, which refers to itself as the largest dental lab in the world.
The company makes a variety of dental products, including crowns and bridges, full and partial dentures, dental implants and prosthetic components.
Campus Collection
The new owner has plenty of familiarity with the immediate neighborhood, which sits across the street from Allergan PLC’s massive Irvine campus.
Affiliates of Glidewell Laboratories own and occupy at least four other buildings in the same block, including multiple properties adjacent to Dupont Centre, according to prior Business Journal reports and property records.
The latest purchase gives the buyer the ability to create a de facto office campus of its own, which would be roughly a third the size of Allergan’s 50-acre property.
Among notable deals, Glidewell paid a reported $22 million for a nearly 75,000-square-foot building at 18551 Von Karman Ave. in 2007. The site previously held a FedEx location but is now used by the company for continuing dental education.
Its headquarters at 4141 MacArthur Blvd. is about 71,000 square feet. The company moved into the building in 1993, a year after it paid a reported $3.6 million for it.
All told, its local base of office and research and development properties now total about half a million square feet, and appears large enough to comfortably hold more than 2,500 employees.
Glidewell’s website reports the company having 4,300 employees.
The latest purchase was financed in part through a $122.8 million loan from Comerica Bank secured to other Glidewell-owned commercial properties.
Sales Near JWA
The sale of Dupont Centre is the third notable office deal taking place within a block of Allergan’s local campus in more than a month.
Last month, the Atrium building, site of the Bistango restaurant and one of the most unique office properties in the area around John Wayne Airport, was bought by Kelemen Co., a commercial property investor and developer based in Irvine.
The 10-story building on Von Karman Avenue totals 302,877 square feet; it sold for $106.8 million, or $352 per square foot, about the same per-square-foot price as Dupont Centre.
Also sold last month: Dupont Business Center, an office park across the street from Allergan’s main gated campus.
The buildings at the center total about 49,000 square feet, and sold for about $12.1 million, or $247 per square foot. Allergan owned the property but never fully occupied the site.
It was bought by a venture between industrial developer Panattoni Development Co. and Newport Beach-based Stillwater Investment Group.
Panattoni plans to use one of the buildings for its new headquarters, while Stillwater will fix up the remainder of the campus and lease it out.
