Essex Secures Site in Irvine

PALO ALTO, CA—Spokesmen for publicly traded Essex Property Trust Inc. said this week is has acquired a three-acre site in Irvine that could hold a 138-unit apartment community. Essex acquired the site for a contract price of $3.8 million. Construction will begin following the project-predevelopment process, expected to take approximately nine months.

As a condition to the acquisition, an affiliate of Essex acquired a 110,000-sf office building located adjacent to the development site for a contract price of $14.6 million. Essex has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with a local developer that provides, in part, for the contribution of the office building to a newly formed joint venture, which will implement the leasing and occupancy of the property.