Irvine Company Unloads More San Diego Offices at Low Prices

Irvine Company has taken a bath in San Diego by selling a 24-story office tower for $40 million — more than $108 million less than it paid for it 11 years ago.

The Newport Beach-based developer sold the 488,000-square-foot Wells Fargo Plaza at 401 B Street, downtown, the Orange County Business Journal reported. The buyer was the Prebys Foundation, a locally based nonprofit.

The deal works out to $82 per square foot — 73 percent less than its last traded price.

Irvine Company bought the tower in late 2004 from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System for $148.3 million, or $304 per square foot.

Wells Fargo Plaza, built in 1983 of smoked glass and brown granite, has views of downtown, Mission Bay and Coronado Island. Tenants include the San Diego Association of Governments, Kimley-Horn and Wells Fargo Bank.

The Prebys Foundation said its purchase “marks a strategic investment in the future of downtown as a thriving hub for business, the arts, creativity and community engagement.”

Irvine Company, which developed much of OC, has been divesting its properties in San Diego, where it has reigned as the largest office landlord.

Last fall, the firm sold Symphony Towers, a 34-story, 530,000-square-foot tower at 750 B Street downtown for $45.7 million, at a basement price of $86 per square foot. That’s nearly 70 percent less than the $134 million the Irvine Company paid for the property in 2003.

A month later, Irvine Company listed the 40- and 50-year-old towers at 101 West Broadway and 225 Broadway, respectively, for an undisclosed price. The firm bought the two Broadway buildings in 2005 for $265 million, or $325 per square foot, according to GlobeSt.

As of October, Irvine Company had a portfolio of more than 70 office buildings containing more than 8 million square feet, according to CoStar.

The company, owned by the nation’s richest developer, Donald Bren, traces its roots to a 19th century ranch.

The firm owns 129 million square feet of property, including 590 office buildings, 125 apartment complexes with 65,000 units, 40 shopping centers, a coastal resort, three golf courses and five marinas across the U.S., of which 65 percent is in OC, according to its website.

— Dana Bartholomew