Aliso Viejo’s 1 Enterprise office, the future headquarters of Ambry Genetics, has been a good investment for the handful of real estate firms that have owned it over the years. Its current owner is now shopping the building for nearly $500 per square foot, sources tell the Business Journal.
It hasn’t always worked out well for the tenants at the four-story office, though, in terms of a long tenure at the prominent building.
The building opened in 1999, and served as the headquarters of Fluor Corp., an engineering and construction company. It vacated the building when it moved its headquarters to Irving, Texas, a few years later.
Fluor sold the building to RREEF Funds LLC for a reported $27.5 million in 2005, according to CoStar Group Inc. records.
Pharmaceutical firm Valeant Pharmaceuticals International signed a 10-year lease there in 2006 when it moved its headquarters from its longtime home in Costa Mesa.
Within a year of striking the lease, Valeant was acquired by Canada’s Biovail Corp., which took the Valeant name and began cutting local staff. It would later make an ill-fated bid for Irvine’s Allergan.
Valeant began putting chunks of its new office back on the market for sublease starting in 2008.
In 2011, chipmaker Microsemi Corp. struck a deal to take over the Aliso Viejo office, consolidating operations from a few OC locations, including headquarters in Irvine.
In 2013, RREEF sold the office to AEW Capital Management for $38.8 million.
Last year, Microsemi was sold to Arizona competitor Microchip Technology Inc., and began several rounds of job cuts, including most of its executive team. It will depart the office entirely over the next 18 months or so, according to data from CBRE Group Inc., which is now marketing the office for sale on behalf of AEW.
A new spot for the chipmaker’s remaining OC operations hasn’t been announced.
AEW is said to be looking for a price near $50 million this time around, according to real estate sources.
— Mark Mueller
