In-N-Out Burgers Buying Irvine’s University Tower : Real estate: Fast-food chain will use building for its corporate headquarters. An investment trust said it expects to lose $3.2 million in the $15.2-million sale.

A real estate investment trust said Friday that it will sell the University Tower office building in Irvine to the In-N-Out Burgers fast-food chain for $15.2 million.

In-N-Out already had plans to move its corporate headquarters, now in Baldwin Park, to two floors of the 10-story building by November. The sale of the building is expected to be completed within 90 days.

Buying the building “was really a function of the economic situation,” said Steve Tanner, chief financial officer of In-N-Out. “We’re buying this at a good time and at a good price.”

In-N-Out, which operates about 80 restaurants in California and Arizona, had been planning to move its 60-person corporate staff for some time. The chain had plans last year to buy the University Tower for $15.4 million in cash but was unable to get a loan. In-N-Out had looked for so-called non-recourse financing in which the lender can take over the property but can take no other legal action against the borrower. But that proposal was “pretty unpopular with lenders,” Tanner said.

At the time, ICM Property Investors Inc. in Lafayette, Calif., the owner of the building, said it expected a $3.2-million loss on the sale of the Tower to In-N-Out and said it would charge the shortfall against its earnings. ICM is a real estate investment trust, which raises funds for income-producing properties by issuing shares.

After the initial deal fell through, ICM agreed to lease about 34,000 square feet of the University Tower to the burger chain and granted it an option to buy the building, which is in the Market Place commercial complex near UC Irvine.

“The lenders have suddenly warmed up,” Tanner said. “There’s a feeling that the market, if it’s not at the bottom, it’s near the bottom.”

Lenders have become more accommodating because In-N-Out will not just own the building, it will actually occupy a large portion of the space, Tanner said.

ICM bought the 167,000-square-foot building in 1986 for $18.7 million by forming a partnership comprising the company and private investors.

In-N-Out will be buying the building for “less than half what was spent to build it,” Tanner said.

The building’s rent averages about $1.40 a square foot, compared to $1.45 to $1.50 a square foot for comparable space in the area, he said.

ICM has said the tower is not making enough money to meet payments on its mortgage, even though it is almost fully leased. ICM acquired sole ownership of the property in 1991 after the partnership defaulted on its loan.

“We’re happy with the sale,” said Peter B. Bedford, chairman and chief executive of ICM. “We can deploy these funds to our investors.”

ICM also said Friday that it will sell a 5% stake in three office buildings in Edison, N.J. The buildings, called Edison Square, have about 229,000 square feet of rentable space.