Loss Expected on Irvine Tower Sale

A real estate investment trust said in its second-quarter financial report Wednesday that it anticipates a $3.2-million loss on the proposed sale of University Tower in Irvine for $15.4 million.

ICM Property Investors Inc. of Lafayette, Calif., bought the 10-story office building in 1986 with a partnership composed of the company and private investors. It acquired sole ownership of the property in 1991 after the partnership defaulted on its loan from ICM.

ICM President Constance Moore said that University Tower, which is in the Market Place commercial complex near UC Irvine, is not generating sufficient cash to meet payments on its loan.

“Suburban office buildings have not done well since the decline of the real estate market in the late 1980s,” Moore said. When it was built in 1985, University Tower was valued at more than $20 million.

After making a provision for the potential loss on University Tower, ICM reported a second-quarter loss of $2.6 million.