Cable & Wireless Will Lease Warehouse in Santa Ana

A Santa Ana warehouse formerly occupied by cosmetics seller Avon Products Inc. will become a telecommunications center for global telecom giant Cable & Wireless.

Cable & Wireless USA Inc. agreed to lease the 101,760-square-foot building at 1801 E. Dyer Road from Irvine Co. for 15 years in a transaction valued at about $20 million.

The property will undergo extensive renovation to meet Cable & Wireless’ needs as a provider of Internet-based and other telecommunications services to business customers, said Jonathan Larsen of Trammell Crow Co., who negotiated the lease on the tenant’s behalf. Cable & Wireless’ takeover of MCI WorldCom’s Internet operations helped create the need for the facility, Larsen said.

London-based Cable & Wireless is housing its core commercial operations within such data centers in the U.S. and Britain. The facilities also will provide systems requirements to Cable & Wireless Global, which is developing advanced Internet networks and value-added services in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

The former Avon building is located along a so-called fiber river of fiber-optic cable running through Santa Ana and Irvine. Investors and telecom operations have recently taken over other properties along or near the route in an effort to serve businesses in the area.