Greenlaw Partners, an Irvine-based investment firm, has reacquired a 315,000-square-foot office tower in Irvine for $57.5 million, a significant reduction from the $108.5 million it fetched twelve years prior. Led by Wilbur Smith III, Greenlaw Partners purchased the 13-story building located at 2050 Main Street within the Irvine Concourse, as reported by the Orange County Business Journal. The seller in this transaction was AEW Capital Management, based in Boston.
This acquisition price translates to $183 per square foot, facilitated by a $31 million loan secured from Sunwest Bank. This represents a notable price adjustment compared to AEW Capital’s purchase of the property in 2011 for $108.5 million, or $345 per square foot. Greenlaw Partners’ repurchase price reflects a 47 percent decrease from the prior sale.
According to CoStar Group, the office building is currently 72 percent leased and counts Sunwest Bank, whose signage is prominently displayed atop the building, among its tenants. The Irvine Concourse, a sprawling 48-acre area, is home to a mix of office spaces, hotels, and restaurants situated along Main Street, between Von Karman Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard.
Constructed in 2007, just before the onset of the Great Recession, this glass-clad building has a history with Greenlaw Partners. Back in 2009, Greenlaw, in partnership with two other investors, initially acquired the then 30 percent leased building for $56 million. By 2011, Greenlaw and its partners successfully increased the building’s occupancy to 80 percent before selling it to AEW Capital for $53 million more than their initial investment.
Wilbur Smith III, CEO of Greenlaw Partners, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and CEO of Mirae Asset Global Investments, alongside an image of 7227 Central Avenue in Riverside, showcasing Greenlaw Partners' diverse portfolio and key industry relationships.
Greenlaw Partners, established in 2003, has largely concentrated on large-scale industrial properties outside of Orange County. The company currently boasts $3 billion in assets and maintains a considerable office presence in Irvine, including buildings within the Von Karman Towers office complex, located across the 405 Freeway from the Irvine Concourse.
In a significant transaction last June, Greenlaw Partners divested a portfolio of eight Amazon.com-leased warehouses across California and Utah for $520 million. More recently, in August, Greenlaw Partners was identified in a report as one of two “preferred developers” in Anaheim who had associations with former Mayor Harry Sidhu, who resigned amidst an FBI corruption investigation last year.
— Dana Bartholomew
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