Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
REAL ESTATE
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Orange made a $50 million cash bid for Crystal Cathedral Ministries’ iconic building and 35-acre campus in Garden Grove. The offer includes a provision to allow Crystal Cathedral Ministries to lease back a portion of the property for an unspecified length of time. It also calls for the diocese to eventually “facilitate” the relocation of some Crystal Cathedral Ministries’ “religious, educational and administrative departments to a nearby diocesan venue.” Crystal Cathedral Ministries is bankrupt and has proposed a reorganization plan that would use cash from the proposed sale of the property to repay a $33 million bank loan and some other creditors over a two-year period. The diocese has sought to build a new cathedral here for some time. Last July it hired an architect to design a new cathedral but has no set plans on a location. Chapman University in Orange has made a $46 million bid to purchase Crystal Cathedral’s property and is considering a medical school on the site. The Chapman bid matched the price offered earlier by Newport Beach-based real estate developer and owner Greenlaw Partners.
The unfinished Villa del Lago estate that figured into the bankruptcy filing of real estate agent John McMonigle has been listed for sale at $37 million by Hom Real Estate Group in Newport Beach. McMonigle was the general partner of VDL One Pelican Hill LLC, the entity behind Villa del Lago. He and 65 others from his former agency recently joined Beverly Hills-based Teles Properties Inc. Investors in Villa del Lago recently said they had “differences of opinion regarding the property and the sale effort,” according to bankruptcy filings. McMonigle spent six years marketing the estate and overseeing its construction. The property is listed in “as is” condition.
RETAIL
Whole Foods Market plans to open a store at the Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach next year. It will take space once slated for a Dean & Deluca, an upscale grocery chain that canceled plans for a Fashion Island store last year. Newport Beach-based developer Irvine Company recently spent $100 million to refurbish the retail center, which has drawn a number of other new tenants in recent months. Whole Foods, which specializes in organic foodstuffs and other healthy fare, also plans to open a store in Laguna Beach next year.
TECHNOLOGY
Shares of Santa Ana-based solid state storage drive maker STEC Inc. plummeted last week after it reported revenue and profits below Wall Street estimates and cut its outlook for the current quarter. The company cited increasing competition from lower-priced solid state storage drive makers and weakening demand for the reduced outlook. STEC projected an adjusted third-quarter profit of $4.1 million to $5.1 million, which would be about 66% down from a year ago. Analysts had expected $15.9 million on average. STEC said it foresees revenue of $70 million to $72 million for the current quarter, which would be down about 17% from a year earlier. Wall Street had expected nearly $96 million in revenue for the period. STEC makes flash memory drives for corporate data networks. Solid state drives are seen replacing disk drives for high-end corporate data storage because they’re more reliable and cost less to run.
Irvine-based chipmaker Microsemi Corp. might face competitors on its hostile bid for Canada’s Zarlink Semiconductor Inc., according to Reuters. Canada-based Zarlink makes chips used by telecommunications and cable companies for bundled voice, video, data and mobile services. Zarlink Chairman Adam Chowaniec told Reuters that the company has drawn interest among other competitors, although a decision to remain independent is still a possibility. Microsemi recently said it will take a $548.7 million cash bid for Zarlink to shareholders after directors of the company turned down two earlier offers. Microsemi’s chips serve a variety of military, aerospace, consumer and industrial uses. Its products are built into satellites, digital televisions and other devices. Customers include Cisco Systems Inc., Boeing Co., Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
Santa Ana-based vehicle-sensor maker Iteris Inc. agreed to sell its lane-departure warning system to Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems in Elyria, Ohio, for $14 million. The system is based on software that analyzes driver performance. Iteris also makes systems to synchronize traffic lights and handle other tasks intended to reliever traffic congestions and improve safety.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Monthly rental rates in Santa Ana, where residential landlords led an overall trend in Orange County with an 8.8% average increase—about $113 from a year earlier, to $1,392 monthly—during the second quarter, according to data tracker RealFacts. Westminster saw the largest decline, with a 2.5% dip of about $33 a month, to $1,273. The countywide average was up about 3.3%, or $50, to $1,532 a month.
