Dallas-based institutional investor Invesco Real Estate is using its office holdings in Aliso Viejo for the initial rollout of a cutting-edge energy storage project that it plans to expand to other parts of its sizable real estate portfolio in the U.S. over the coming years.
The investor—which owns more than 550,000 square feet of high-end office space in Aliso Viejo— announced this month that it was partnering with San Francisco-based Advanced Microgrid Solutions, or AMS, to introduce hybrid electric building technology to the firm’s California real estate portfolio.
AMS will install and operate advanced energy storage systems at Invesco’s commercial buildings in Southern California, starting in Aliso Viejo, with an eye on expanding the program into other markets.
The AMS project uses large battery packs built by Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors Inc. to store energy.
The Tesla batteries—which are roughly the size of three parking spaces each—are charged during nonpeak hours and used as needed, such as peak daytime hours or in the event of a power failure.
The program is expected to reduce energy demand costs at Invesco’s buildings by 30%, while providing critical supplementary support to the state’s electric grid, according to AMS.
It’s the second notable energy project that AMS has entered into in Orange County’s office market.
A year ago, it struck a deal with Newport Beach-based Irvine Company to outfit OC’s largest office landlord with the energy storage systems at nearly two dozen of its highest profile buildings in the Irvine Spectrum and John Wayne Airport areas.
AMS builds, pays for and manages the battery systems, and is in turn paid by the utilities when the systems’ stored energy is used.
Competitors of AMS include Millbrae-based renewable energy company Stem Inc., which is working with LBA Realty in Irvine to install a similar energy storage system on the grounds of its Park Place campus near John Wayne Airport.
Invesco has been the most active investor in Aliso Viejo’s office market over the past two years, snapping up a number of the city’s better-known buildings, including 15 and 25 Enterprise, a pair of five-story offices at the Summit Office Campus.
It also owns three offices on Polaris Way. It has spent more than $200 million on office buys in the city over the past two years, according to CoStar Group Inc. data.
The investor said it has a total of $71 billion in real estate assets under management.
No. 1 Landlord
A new report by Santa Barbara-based commercial real estate data company Yardi Matrix puts Irvine Company’s vast apartment portfolio in Orange County and all of California in good perspective.
The Newport Beach-based real estate owner and developer has nearly 41,000 rental units in Orange County alone, according to the report.
The next nine largest apartment owners own about 43,000 rental units here combined. Irvine-based Western National is the second largest owner in OC, with a portfolio of about 10,000 units, according to the report.
Irvine Co. is the second largest apartment owner in San Diego County, with about 7,600 units there. It’s also the fifth largest apartment owner in the San Francisco-Silicon Valley region, with nearly 8,300 units.
Irvine Co.’s total portfolio of about 58,500 apartment units in California make it the state’s largest owner of rental units, with a portfolio about 10,000 units larger than that of Palo Alto-based Essex Property Trust. It has a market share of 20.3%, according to the report.
Yardi Matrix’s report classifies 78% of Irvine Co.’s apartments as being “high-end.”
Western National is the state’s No. 5 apartment owner, with about 13,700 units.
