IRVINE, CA—Bixby Land Company has extended the reach of its contemporary workplace developments with the acquisition of a 262,463-square-foot corporate headquarters building at 9950 Jeronimo Road in Irvine. Bixby purchased the building for $44.25 million from Kawasaki Motors Corporation, USA, which was represented in the transaction by Gregg Haly of CBRE.

Bixby plans an extensive $20 million redesign to meet the growing demand for modern work spaces in Orange County, especially from larger tenants.

This latest acquisition is Bixby's fourth in Orange County over the past 18 months. The firm also recently purchased 15771 Redhill Avenue in nearby Tustin, Calif. That project is in development for one or two users in a 90,000-square-foot building.

“We first saw the need for large blocks of contemporary space in Northern California back in 2009-2010, and since then we have delivered roughly 500,000 square feet in Silicon Valley that quickly leased to four major tenants,” said Bill Halford, president and CEO of Bixby. The firm is also in development on a 405,000-square-foot project in Santa Clara, CA that it will deliver later this year.

“The pent-up demand for highly-amenitized workplaces in Orange County won't be met in the near term by ground-up development, and we think this strategy is the quickest way to bring these projects to market,” added Halford.

Bixby's redesign of the project centers on an interior access corridor beneath a high-volume glass canopy, where plans call for a fitness center and an indoor/outdoor café. The entryway bisects the building into three separate areas and provides an aesthetic backdrop for the signature Bixby Retreat, a spacious outdoor gathering area for tenants that defines Bixby developments throughout the state.

The building will also undergo significant upgrades to the exterior façade, including the addition of floor-to-ceiling glass lines and decorative screen metal canopies at building entry points. Design work is being handled by architecture firm LPA.

Separately, Bixby is nearing completion on Avalon, a 46,000-square-foot multi-tenant building at 1501 Quail Street in Newport Beach. The firm has also completed and leased gen2 in Irvine, where cosmetics firm Too Faced leased the entire ground floor in January 2014. Gen2 is now 100% leased.

“There is a demonstrated need for this type of space, something that we've repeatedly seen in Northern California, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego,” added Halford. “The pace with which these properties have leased following completion confirms our belief that this is how and where companies prefer to operate.”

Bixby Land Company is a leading commercial real estate operator and investment manager with a portfolio of office, industrial and R&D properties of approximately $1 billion. The company is active in the development of office and R&D properties in select Western US markets, and invests in core industrial properties.

Instant Insights /

Bixby Acquires Former Kawasaki USA HQ

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