Medterra, a Laguna Hills-based maker of cannabidiol oil and other CBD-related healthcare products that started operations last year, is taking a more prominent location in the Irvine Spectrum.
CoStar Group Inc. records show the privately held company recently signed a lease for about 29,000-square-feet at the two-story 9801 Research Drive building along the San Diego (5) Freeway.
The building is a few doors away from a new 57,000-square-foot Porsche dealership run by AutoNation Inc. that fronts the freeway and opened this year.
The office, which totals about 60,000 square feet, is about a mile from Medterra’s former 5,000-square-foot facility on Mill Creek Drive in Laguna Hills.
The expanding company is taking over space previously occupied by Ubiquity Inc., the Irvine-based media and technology company that was plagued by a variety of corporate and legal issues over the past few years.
Ubiquity employed fewer than 20 people full time at the Research Drive facility last year, according to regulatory filings. Trading of its stock—the company’s market value reached as high as $60 million as recently as two years ago—was revoked last year, and the Business Journal reported that the company was evicted from the Irvine office a year ago after failing to pay rent.
The office is owned by Arizona-based Avant Garde Properties LLC.
Marketing materials from the Irvine office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. show the space Medterra will occupy had notable features left behind by the former, larger tenant, including television and movie-related production studio space. Ubiquity referred to the site as its “digital media production facility.”
Cushman’s Don Yahn and Brett Swartzbaugh had the listing for the space.
Medterra is one of many area businesses looking to sell CBD-related products, now that California and other states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana.
The company’s oils, creams and pill contain a nonintoxicating marijuana extract purported to treat various medical issues. Medterra said its hemp is produced in Kentucky.
“Our products have absolutely zero THC and [are] void of any psychoactive ingredients,” the company’s website notes.
A 1-ounce bottle of its oil sells for nearly $50.
State filings show Medterra is comprised of two separate entities, one for production of CBD products, the other for marketing and sales. Both are headed by John Hartenbach, who previously worked with IBM.
The company’s LinkedIn profile indicates it employs about two dozen people.
San Diego Charge
Add one more San Diego-area office property to Irvine Co.’s rapidly expanding portfolio in San Diego County, which totals about 9 million square feet.
The Newport Beach-based landlord, already the largest office owner in San Diego, said this month that it bought One Del Mar, a 120,000-square-foot office in the Del Mar Heights submarket.
The sales price was undisclosed; a deal of $80 million or higher appears likely, based on the estimated $700-per-square-foot price Irvine Co. paid for an office complex in the same submarket about a month ago.
Other area acquisitions by Irvine Co. in the past three months include Paseo Del Mar in Del Mar Heights, and La Jolla Reserve in the La Jolla-University Town Center submarkets.
The company said it’s added more than 1 million square feet to its San Diego office portfolio over the past year.
“Irvine Company is proud to expand its presence in San Diego, a nationally-recognized hub of innovation,” said Irvine Co. office division President Doug Holte in a statement.
“We continue to seek strategic growth opportunities in the region.”
