IRA Capital is deepening its presence in its hometown of Irvine with the purchase of a 154,400-square-foot office building for $103 million.
IRA Capital bought the 154,418-square-foot property at 2722 Michelson Drive from LBA Realty Partners late last month, records show. Neither firm responded to requests for comment.
The price of $660 per square foot is about in line with recent deals in the market.
The building is 100 percent leased to Anduril, a private technology firm founded by Palmer Luckey to develop AI software and drones for national security uses. Luckey founded virtual-reality developer Oculus and grew it in Irvine before selling to Facebook–now Meta–for $2 billion in 2014.
Aduril is subleasing part of its space on Michelson Drive to ad software firm Viant Technology and e-bike maker Super73, sources told The Real Deal.
LBA Realty spent $30 million to build the property, with construction finishing in 2019, according to IRA Capital’s website. The building also isn’t the only office in Irvine that LBA has recently sold. In September, the firm sold a Class A office building leased to Ford Motor Company for $159 million, or $582 per square feet.
IRA Capital has historically been an active investor in medical office properties in Texas, Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, among other states.
However, the firm has diversified its portfolio in the last few months, offloading a medical office and life science portfolio for $620 million to Nuveen. Since then, IRA Capital has purchased a 95,000-square-foot office property at 325 North Maple Drive in Beverly Hills for $153.2 million and a portfolio of 155 units in Long Beach for $42 million.
Though the office market has been hit hard by the pandemic, Irvine has seen a number of big office deals in the latter half of this year, mostly from gaming, aerospace and technology firms. The studio behind Pac-Man, Bandai Namco, took 70,000 square feet at an office complex in Irvine, while Hyundai has signed a lease to occupy an entire 105,600-square-foot building in Irvine Spectrum.