Sued Firm Puts Cedar Park Land on Market

Centerpulse, a Switzerland-based maker of heart valves, orthopedic implants and other medical devices, is asking about $2.50 per sf, says Jerry Heare, the NAI Commercial Industrial Properties Co. broker marketing the property. That would make the total about $2.9 million, less than the property's assessed market value of $3.3 million, according to the Williamson County Central Appraisal District.

One of Centerpulse's units, Sulzer Biologics, had planned to build a $25-million manufacturing plant and staff it with 300 workers in the La Jaita Business Park on FM 1431 in Cedar Park. Beset by lawsuits over faulty implants, Sulzer ended the project earlier this year without disturbing the land.

Cedar Park had captured the project by putting up $3 million to help finance the purchase of the land. When Sulzer backed away from building, Cedar Park sued. In September, the city won a settlement of $4.16 million from Sulzer. The bulk of the settlement is due in January 2004. In the interim, Sulzer is to pay installments to Cedar Park for the debt service on the municipal bonds sold for the incentives.

Heare says the property is at 14311 Arrow Point in the 88-acre La Jaita Business Park, a planned unit development in Cedar Park's city limits. He says the property has 841 feet of frontage along FM 1431.

Centerpulse has two other operations in the Austin area, one at 1300 E. Anderson Lane and the other at 9900 Spectrum Dre. The company is selling the unit on Anderson Lane to Snia, an Italian company. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.