Mark Mueller
Editor
Mark Mueller covers commercial and residential real estate for the Orange County Business Journal. His beat also includes title insurers and mortgage lenders, as well as government stories that relate to real estate. He can be reached at mueller@ocbj.com.
Phone: 949-833-8373 Extension: 226
Recent Stories
What the Cat Saw
Alteryx users are getting younger, CEO Dean Stoecker tells our Kevin Costelloe (see his front-page story).
Cryoport HQ Shifts To Nashville Area
HEALTHCARE: CEO moves, Irvine ops remain
Cryoport Inc., the fast-growing provider of cold-chain logistics services for the biopharmaceutical industry, is the latest local company to move its headquarters to the area around Nashville, Tenn.
Top Dog
Chihuahua Builds Brewing Base In SoCal, Plans National Expansion
Niche microbrewer Chihuahua Cerveza bids to go national
Fast Funds, Fast-Grower: $85M for Sonendo
MEDTECH: Root canal alternative eyes expansion
From the guys who brought OC Glaukos
Healthpeak Brings Development Push to San Diego
REITS: Plans trophy life science campus
Irvine-based Healthpeak Properties Inc., Orange County’s third-largest public company with a market capitalization topping $18 billion, is adding a new prime life science campus to its already sizeable San Diego-area portfolio.
OCBJ INSIDER: Rinker’s Recollections
The new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge ride, Rise of the Resistance, made its debut over the weekend, largely to rave reviews (see our front-page story).
Tarsus Raises $60M to Combat Eyelash Disease
DRUGMAKERS: Bill Link on firm’s board
Irvine-based Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, which is backed by Orange County’s best-known ophthalmology venture capital executive, Bill Link, and several other notable area investors, has raised $60 million to continue testing a drug that aims to be the first of its type to treat a common disease affecting the eye.
William Lyon Homes Details Other Sales Interest
HOMEBUILDING: All- Stock Deal at Higher Price
The board of William Lyon Homes in mid-2019 rebuffed a sales inquiry from another publicly traded homebuilder prior to reaching a deal to sell itself to Taylor Morrison Home Corp.
Augie Nieto’s Return: Back to Life Fitness
RETAIL: Investor, Board Member at $1B Firm
Augie Nieto’s essential work in combatting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), through his namesake Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS, would be more than enough for the fitness industry icon’s inclusion in our Business People of the Year edition just about any year.
Ingram Shuffles Exec Team; Cloud Focus
TECHNOLOGY: Bay takes over key revenue unit
Paul Bay has taken over operations of Ingram Micro Inc.’s worldwide technology solutions business, which last year accounted for about 90% of the Irvine-based tech wholesale distributor’s revenue.
OCBJ INSIDER
Holiday Gifts
The need to ramp up the pace of hiring in OC’s high-tech industries was a core theme during Chapman University’s 2020 Economic Forecast and is a focus of UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s new and expanded Cove facility at UCI Research Park—stories on both are featured on this week’s front page.
Boras’ MVP Week: $814M of Contracts
SPORTS: Famed agent has record-setting stretch
Last week’s free-agent bonanza made clear who the most valuable player in Major League Baseball is.
OCBJ INSIDER
Doti vs. Gross, Pt. II
The Insider got a high-profile shout-out last week from President Emeritus Jim Doti at Chapman University’s annual economic forecast.
OCBJ INSIDER
Brea King’s $500K Dinner
Dwight Manley’s long list of VIP friends ranges from Jesse Jackson and Jerry Brown to Dennis Rodman and Jim Jannard.
OCBJ INSIDER
Luckey’s Good Fortune
With Insider contributions three weeks running, and a recent cameo as a Chapman University guest lecturer, Editor at Large Rick Reiff is clearly retired in name only. The Original Insider’s latest report notes the continued good fortune of OC’s best-known tech exec under the age of 30—or perhaps OC's most nationally known tech exec, period:
OCBJ INSIDER
School Scenes
While the Orange County Museum of Art and UC Irvine’s new Institute and Museum of California Art are making headlines with ambitious construction projects, Chapman University is growing its art museum, too.
OCBJ INSIDER
Sporting Pursuits
This week’s edition features the NBA’s Bill Russell and World Cup soccer star/entrepreneur Eddie Lewis on the front, and avid sailor/private equity exec Jim Madden on this page.
Mitsubishi Campus Sells for $57.5M
REAL ESTATE: Cypress site runs 22 acres, nearly 400K SF
The sprawling Cypress campus of Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. has been sold to an Irvine developer, as part of the automaker’s relocation to Tennessee.
Bill Russell Gets HOF Ring in OC
SPORTS: Raj family home hosts ceremony
Often lost in the local and national debate over who’s the best basketball player ever, an argument between current Laker LeBron James and Michael Jordan, one hoops legend with a more impressive résumé is often overlooked.
PCH Shopping Center Spree for Jabara
RETAIL: $150M invested by Mobilitie founder
Gary Jabara, one of Orange County’s top telecom executives, has bought a pair of prominent retail-focused properties along Coast Highway in Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach as part of a nearly $150 million push into commercial real estate over the past month.
Record Pricing For Costa Mesa Rentals
REAL ESTATE: $113M tops for year in OC
The developers of Costa Mesa’s Baker Block apartment complex aimed to distinguish their 240-unit project from other multifamily projects through their use of art.
OCBJ INSIDER
Harbor Happenings
It’s been a busy month for Horatio Alger Award winners in Newport Beach.
William Lyon Sold; $2.4 Billion Deal
HOMEBUILDERS: Combined company fifth-largest in US
Next year will mark the end of an era for William Lyon Homes, one of Orange County’s iconic homebuilders.
2211 Michelson Sale: $116M for JWA Office
REAL ESTATE: 4-building campus could see development
The four-building Von Karman Towers office complex near John Wayne Airport has a unified ownership structure for the first time, after the newest and most prominent building at the campus, the 2211 Michelson tower, traded hands for close to $116 million.
OCBJ INSIDER
Cal Ripken of Innovation
“You have to get used to failure,” Edwards Lifesciences CEO Mike Mussallem said last week at OCTANe’s Medical Technology Innovation Forum in Newport Beach, during a keynote address where he extolled the need for medtech executives and others to take chances, and spend the money in R&D to find the next breakthroughs.
OCBJ INSIDER
Hearts, Minds and HQs
Robert Braithwaite’s been busy of late: check our front-page story on the new wellness push at Hoag Health Center Foothill Ranch, as well as this page’s story on the first Be Well OC location in Orange, where Hoag and other area hospitals are involved.
Unified Plan to Tackle Mental Health Concerns in OC
COMMUNITY: Be Well to focus on addiction, too
A large cross section of Orange County healthcare and civic leaders expect a forthcoming $40 million facility in the city of Orange to mark the first step in a unified approach by the county toward combatting mental health problems and treating drug abuse—and in doing so alleviating some of the area’s homelessness issues.
Civics, and Civility
OC’s civic work doesn’t stop for a party. Witness last Wednesday’s groundbreaking of the first Be Well OC campus in Orange; it’s the first of three planned area facilities geared toward tackling mental health issues and drug abuse through a public-private partnership model.
OCBJ INSIDER
A Record Score
Our Richard Reisman broke his Yom Kippur fast last Wednesday night at Chapman University; he wasn’t the only one.
Prospera Adds to Anaheim Hotel Holdings
HOSPITALITY: Pays $36M for partner’s stake
The developer of Anaheim’s soon-to-open Cambria Hotel & Suites near Disneyland has quietly sold off its interest in a nearby hotel it built four years ago.
New Owners to Revise LT Platinum Center Plans
REAL ESTATE: Less retail likely at Anaheim site
The development group behind a proposed two-tower project next to John Wayne Airport in Irvine has been brought in to help oversee an equally ambitious mixed-use project yet to start near Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
OCBJ INSIDER
Jimmy P, Jimmy U
Microsemi’s “Jimmy P” Peterson and his wife, Sheila, are heading the just-unveiled $2B fundraising efforts of UCI (see front-page story), one of many higher education stories from our Jessie Yount featured in this week’s edition.
OCBJ INSIDER
Security Updates
“We stand by our findings and conclusions,” Crowdstrike told the Business Journal last week, as the 8-year-old cybersecurity firm, founded in Irvine, got caught up in political intrigue that’s led to an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
Olenicoff Planning A Shopping Spree
REAL ESTATE: Huge loan frees up $500M+ cash
Igor Olenicoff, Orange County’s second-wealthiest resident, is on the lookout for real estate acquisitions here and in other markets.
Anaheim’s LT Platinum Center Site Sold
Hong Kong-based LT Commercial Real Estate Ltd. has quietly sold a nearly 14-acre parcel next to Angel Stadium, where an LA Live-type, mixed-used development was planned, the Business Journal has learned.
OCBJ INSIDER
Future Thinkers
This month’s passing of legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens is being felt locally.
Irvine Eye Exam Products Distributor Bought
DEVICES: Latest roll-up for Advancing Eyecare
Irvine’s Ophthalmic Instruments Inc., a family-owned distributor of medical devices, equipment and other supplies for eye exam rooms that had grown to be the largest business of its type on the West Coast, has a new owner
OCBJ INSIDER
Leases in the Air
Laguna Beach residents and the area’s LGBTQ community likely remember the multiyear “Save the Boom” campaign of local activist Fred Karger, which attempted to save and then resurrect the city’s iconic Boom Boom Room, a gay bar that closed in 2007.
World Gym Moves HQ to Costa Mesa
FITNESS: Expanding new studio concept
Add another storied gym chain to Orange County’s collection of fitness businesses that call the area home.
Evolus Flagship Drug Grabs Botox Business
DRUGMAKERS: Allergan trade secrets disputed
The initial release of Evolus Inc.’s first product appears to have gotten the attention of doctors and patients looking for an alternative to Botox.
Top Price for Newport Heights Medical Campus
REAL ESTATE: 60K-SF complex fetches $840 PSF
A newly built medical office complex in Newport Beach has traded hands at one of the highest per square foot prices ever seen for a non-hotel property in Orange County.
Oakley Scores With NFL Partnership
SPORTS: Tinted visors; $200 glasses for fans
Oakley Inc. was able to do what New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown couldn’t this offseason: get the National Football League to revise its stringent rules on the types of helmet-related gear its players can wear.
OCBJ INSIDER
Adding Security
This week’s edition is bookended by a pair of notable charitable endeavors, a cover feature on Deidre Pujols and her family’s efforts to combat human trafficking, among other causes, and a Leader Board from Squar Milner’s Deborah Harrington on the rich tradition of the Boy Scouts in OC, much of it running along Jamboree Road.
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