A lease struck in the Irvine Spectrum by CoreLogic Inc. made plenty of headlines locally last year, but recent word of the company downsizing its sizeable Texas operations seemed to have a bigger positive impact on its stock price.
The Santa Ana-based data and analytics company, which sells its products to banks, real estate companies and other businesses, houses most of its business and information services division’s national operations in an office campus in Westlake, Texas.
It leases a little under 700,000 square feet of space at Westlake’s Solana business park and had been occupying six buildings there. The campus, located about 15 miles from Dallas, included an office with a sizeable data center, according to local reports.
CoreLogic’s operations moved to the 2.5-million-square-foot business park about five years ago, when the company still operated under the First American Corp. name. It has a lease that runs into 2017.
CoreLogic announced this month that it planned to consolidate its operations in Westlake, where it has been laying off some employees, and that it recently vacated two of the buildings it leased there. The two buildings total about 200,000 square feet, according to local reports.
CoreLogic is taking a pre-tax charge of as much as $16 million on the downsizing move, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The Westlake campus, which was developed by Santa Monica-based Maguire Partners, went back to the bank last year after seeing vacancy rates rise the past few years.
The moves to slim down its Westlake operations are part of a larger cost-cutting initiative announced last year by CoreLogic, which split from Santa Ana-based title insurer First American in 2010. The company hopes to shed some $60 million in expenses this year.
The cuts have helped boost CoreLogic’s financial outlook for 2012. The company recently upped its earnings projection by some 10% above analyst expectations and also said that this year’s revenue could increase nearly 8% over 2011 levels to a little under $1.5 billion.
Its year-end 2011 earnings report is expected to be released in late February.
CoreLogic’s revised guidance saw its stock rise to its highest levels since last summer.
The company counts a market value of about $1.6 billion and still runs its headquarters out of First American’s Santa Ana campus. CoreLogic inked a 170,000-square-foot lease on undisclosed terms last year at 40 Pacifica in the Irvine Spectrum, where it plans to move later this year.
CoreLogic also said this month that it still undergoing a strategic review announced last summer that could result in part or all of the company being sold. A time frame for any related decision hasn’t been announced.
Irvine Dealings
The lead item in last week’s real estate column mentioned that Northern California apparel maker Fox Head Inc. just inked a deal to move its Irvine operations on Alton Parkway to a nearby 81,600-square-foot facility at 16752 Armstrong Ave., which recently changed hands for $7.5 million. It turns out that Fox Head’s current Irvine operations also were part of a recent investor sale.
San Diego-based Westcore Properties Inc. said it paid $15.1 million for a two-building, 166,000-square-foot industrial and office property at 1601 and 1621 Alton Parkway. The 9.2-acre site includes a 124,000-square-foot warehouse and a two-story, 42,000-square-foot office building.
Along with Fox Head—which will stay in its current location until early next year, when its new location is renovated—the buildings’ tenants include Irvine Electronics Inc., E-Squared and Del Mar Avionics Inc., which sold the property.
Westcore Properties and Del Mar Avionics were represented by Gary Stache, Anthony Delorenzo, Mark Shaffer, Larry Schuler and Pat Scruggs of CBRE Group Inc.’s Newport Beach office.
Suite Lease
Irvine-based executive suite operator Premier Business Centers has signed leases for a pair of new locations in South County.
The company recently inked a 12,147-square-foot lease for a building at 27101 Puerta Real near the San Diego (I-405) Freeway in Mission Viejo, in the Mission Ridge office complex.
The Mission Viejo site, located just off Crown Valley Parkway, is being built out and is scheduled to open in April. It will hold 53 offices, plus conference rooms and other amenities.
The company also signed a 10,756-square-foot lease for an office near the intersection of Bake Parkway and the Foothill (241) Toll Road in Foothill Ranch. The site, at 26632 Towne Centre Drive, is expected to be opened in mid-March and will include 50 offices, as well as conference rooms.
Premier Business Center now counts 64 locations, with about a third of those in OC.
