NEWPORT BEACH, CA-The Irvine Co. and the global investment management firm Pimco have reached an agreement in principle to build a new 380,000-square-foot headquarters building for Pimco at 650 Newport Center Dr. Pimco selected the 650 Newport Center Dr. site "after an extensive search," according to a statement from the Irvine Co., which has invested heavily in Newport Center with upgrades and new construction.

The new building, designed by architect Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners of New York, will include a collaborative open-architecture floor plan, a conference center and a state-of-the-art trading floor. The building will be environmentally friendly and is expected to qualify for LEED green certification. Construction is expected to begin by late summer of 2011 and to be completed by mid-2013.

Pimco already occupies space in Newport Center for its existing headquarters, where it employs approximately 850 workers. The company employs more than 1,500 professional people world-wide.

In its search for a new global headquarters, Pimco looked at possible locations that included several class-A office markets in Orange County, according to Doug Holte, president of Irvine Company Office Properties. He noted that the investment management firm requires a state-of-the-art facility to accommodate its highly sophisticated technology needs and investment management activities. Pimco began in Newport Beach in 1971 as a young entrepreneurial fixed income asset manager and over the past 40 years has become one of the largest investment managers in the world.

The 650 Newport Center Dr. office building represents the most recent example of the Irvine Co.'s commitment to invest in Newport Center and Fashion Island, Holte pointed out. As reported previously on GlobeSt.com, the Irvine Co. announced the completion of Fashion Island's phase one $100 million reinvestment.