Orange County’s largest publicly traded company now has the largest office development underway in the area around John Wayne Airport.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) recently kicked off construction on a multibuilding expansion for its Irvine headquarters along Red Hill Avenue. Steel began going up in June for a three-story building that’s part of the project’s first phase.
A report from the state’s financing department in mid-June provided a few more financial details on the project.
The medical device maker indicated in state regulatory filings that it plans to invest $239 million in the three-year expansion of its existing 650,000-square-foot campus, which will result in hundreds of additional employees and a variety of high-tech equipment when built out.
A majority of this investment—about $167.4 million—will go toward equipment and technology upgrades, while about $71.9 million is earmarked toward the construction of the new buildings themselves, which is expected to add nearly 500,000 square feet of office, research, and manufacturing space.
Winning Strategy
The expansion is the latest sign of growth for Edwards, which makes products for treating structural heart disease, specializing in artificial heart valves, as well as critical care and surgical monitoring devices.
In an email to the Business Journal, the company said the success of its “patient-focused innovation strategy” and a variety of other factors are “prompting growth all across Edwards, which is fueling the addition of talent and related expansion of our facilities.”
With a $40.2 billion market cap and nearly 4,400 local employees, Edwards is the county’s most valuable public company and its 15th-largest employer.
Making Way for Growth
The expansion was made possible last year when Edwards bought the former headquarters of carpet manufacturer Royalty Carpet Mills Inc., a 9-acre site next to Edwards’ offices that was put up for sale in 2017 after Royalty Carpet closed.
Edwards paid a Royalty Carpet affiliate $36 million, or $4.7 million an acre for the site, property records indicate. The carpet company’s buildings on the site have since been demolished to make way for the ongoing expansion.
Months after the deal, Edwards filed plans with the city to build two office and laboratory buildings, an employee amenities facility, and a parking structure on the site.
The buildings would total about 500,000 square feet, ultimately bringing total space at the expanded campus to over 1 million square feet, records indicate.
Edwards’ Irvine facilities are used for research and development, regulatory and clinical affairs, manufacturing, marketing, and administration.
In addition to its core campus, the company also owns buildings in the vicinity, and leases space at several buildings in the area.
$20M Tax Break
California State Treasurer Fiona Ma approved up to $20 million in tax rebates for the project last month; it was one of several such deals approved by the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.
“They are the kind of company that we need to keep in California. Edwards Lifesciences is saving lives and keeping our state on the cutting edge of technology, and doing all of this while reducing its energy consumption,” Ma said in the June 19 announcement.
In its application for the financing, Edwards said the project would “produce a broad range of technologies for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases” with the use of emerging 3D and robotics technologies.
The company also said it planned to install “high-efficiency LED lights and solar panels to help reduce its energy consumption by 10%.”
Upgrades to existing production, research, design, testing, and prototyping equipment will take place over the next three years, state filings and city records indicate.
Buildings going up in the first phase will total between 200,000 and 250,000 square feet, and should be done in the latter half of 2020, records indicate.
It will primarily include traditional offices and lab space, along with some other uses.
The second phase will build an additional 225,000 to 275,000 square feet beginning late next year. It is expected to include a two-story cafeteria and conference building totaling close to 60,000 square feet, a parking structure, and a nearly 170,000-square-foot office building.
According to a proposal filed with the city a year ago, Edwards is working with Irvine-based architecture firm LPA Inc. on the project.
The project is likely to add and retain 974 production jobs and 90 construction jobs, according to state filings.
“We appreciate the state of California recognizing Edwards Lifesciences’ contributions as we continue to add jobs, grow our facilities in California, and focus on innovative product design and manufacturing that touches even more patients around the world,” the company said in a statement.
Revamp
The new office development comes a year after Edwards completed a revamp of its existing headquarters.
That multiyear project modernized facilities and added amenities, such as a new cafe and a walking track around Edwards’ “Central Park” that’s utilized for walking meetings and employee breaks.
The company also has significant operations in Utah, Puerto Rico, Europe, Asia, and the Dominican Republic.
