Blackstone Buys Irvine’s Park Place

One of Orange County’s largest office complexes, the 1.7-million-square-foot Park Place in Irvine, has been sold to an affiliate of investment banking firm Blackstone Real Estate Advisors.

The transaction, among the largest in Southern California this year, was valued at about $200 million by a source close to one of the parties.

The Blackstone group purchased the sprawling office complex at Jamboree Road and the San Diego Freeway from Jamboree, a limited-liability corporation managed by Oaktree Capital Management. The 14.7-acre compound built in 1978 once served as the headquarters of engineering giant Fluor Corp. and consists of interconnected buildings, including a 10-story, hexagonal tower that is a local landmark.

The property is more than 90% leased with such major tenants as ConAgra Inc., the California Department of Transportation, Balboa Insurance and Washington Mutual, said broker Insignia/ESG, which represented the sellers.

Fluor’s 1999 move to Aliso Viejo left Park Place with 600,000 square feet of empty space, one of the county’s largest single vacancies ever.