Allergan Inc. is nearing a deal to buy a pair of office properties across the street from its headquarters in Irvine, according to real estate sources.
The drug maker is said to be in escrow to buy the 18800 Von Karman Ave. office, as well as Dupont Business Center, a two-building office park next door to the Von Karman property.
The low-rise offices on Dupont Drive, between Von Karman and Bardeen avenues, combine for about 68,500 square feet—roughly the equivalent of three floors at a typical high-rise office in the area.
Brokerage data show the Von Karman building to be empty, while the Dupont Business Center was about two-thirds leased as of last September.
Terms of the sale, which sources said is expected to close in a matter of weeks, have not been disclosed.
The two properties, currently owned by a private investor, were listed for sale separately last year for a combined price of $15.4 million, or about $225 per square foot.
Allergan is the largest public company based in Orange County, with a recent market value of nearly $35 billion.
Brokers with the Newport Beach office of CBRE Group Inc. who have the listing for the buildings declined to comment on the sale.
Block Deals
A deal would add to the growing real estate portfolio for Allergan, whose Irvine headquarters near John Wayne Airport now takes up nearly an entire block.
The company’s campus has expanded over the past decade through a series of acquisitions of land and offices adjacent to its headquarters. Those purchases, totaling more than 200,000 square feet of space, were valued at more than $50 million.
The acquisitions have helped the maker of Botox and other drugs accommodate a surge in hiring.
Allergan now employs close to 2,500 people in Orange County, up nearly 50% from 2008 levels, according to Business Journal data.
Several of the company’s recently acquired buildings are already near capacity, according to employees.
The acquisitions also have provided the company a buffer from any potential housing and noncommercial development being built in the immediate vicinity of the company’s operations.
Allergan’s campus is in the Irvine Business Complex, where thousands of homes and apartments have been built or are in the planning process.
The only major property Allergan doesn’t own on its block is the 2600 Michelson tower at the opposite corner of the drug maker’s two expected purchases.
That 16-story building sold in 2011 to a venture headed up by Ocean West Capital Partners, a Santa Monica-based real estate investor.
Allergan, which leases a few floors at the 2600 Michelson tower, was rumored to be as a potential buyer of the building at that time.
The company also has considered developing its own properties. Allergan filed plans with the city of Irvine to build a 250,000-square-foot, four-story office tower at its campus in 2009, but has yet to move ahead with that project, which was estimated at the time to cost $95 million.
Busy Street
The expected sales of 18800 Von Karman and the Dupont Business Center would add to a lengthy list of notable nearby office sales in Irvine and Newport Beach along Von Karman Avenue of late.
Last September, an affiliate of Houston-based Hines Interests LP bought 2300
Main St., a five-story building at the
intersection of Main Street and Von Karman Avenue.
Hines and Los Angeles-based private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management LP also bought an adjacent parcel of land at 17850 Von Karman, where a new build-to-suit office is being marketed.
In November, Comac, a Chinese jet manufacturer that’s ramping up operations in the U.S., paid about $19.9 million for 4350 Von Karman Ave., a 68,425-square-foot office in Newport Beach.
In December, Smart Circle International LLC purchased the former headquarters of William Lyon Homes at 4490 Von Karman in Newport Beach for $8.5 million.
The referral marketing agency said it plans to move its headquarters from Foothill Ranch into the two-story, 32,093-square-foot property, which is about half a mile from the office Allergan is expected to buy.
