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Cigna Corp. is looking to sell half of its stake in an office complex where another high-rise is planned, according to real estate sources.
The Irvine Company is said to be among the bidders, according to two sources close to the deal who asked not to be named.
Philadelphia-based Cigna, one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers and a real estate investor, is looking for an equal partner in the 900,000-square-foot Irvine Center Towers, according to sources.
Irvine Center Towers includes four black 11-story office high-rises and a Prego Ristorante.
The healthcare insurer owns about 80% of Irvine Center Towers. Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services owns the rest and manages the site.
Transwestern, which didn’t return calls for comment, could be bought out in a sale, sources said.
Some brokers said Cigna could do two deals ,selling half a stake in the existing buildings at Irvine Center Towers and then selling a 50% stake in the proposed tower.
Plans call for putting up a 230,000-square-foot office building at Irvine Center Towers. It’s unclear what a sale by Cigna or a Transwestern buyout would mean for the planned tower.
A new investor with Cigna likely would handle construction of the tower, as well as management and leasing for all of Irvine Center Towers.
The existing high-rises at Von Karman Avenue and Michelson Drive combined are valued at about $280 million, or roughly $315 per square foot, according to brokers.
Other office towers near John Wayne Airport have sold for as much as $370 per square foot. But the Irvine Center Towers buildings are older and less ritzy, brokers said.
Land for the planned tower could be worth as much as $12 million, brokers said. The proposed tower could be valued at $370 per square foot, minus the cost to build it.
Transwestern officials earlier said it would cost around $70 million to build the tower.
Along with the Irvine Co., Washington, D.C.-based CarrAmerica Realty Corp. could bid for a stake in Irvine Center Towers.
CarrAmerica owns a five-story office building at 17911 Von Karman.
The Irvine Co., which declined comment, typically owns buildings by itself. The Newport Beach-based company could share the campus with Cigna in the short term, with an eye to taking full ownership in the future, according to sources.
Last year the Irvine Co. bid top dollar for another key property near John Wayne Airport but lost out on the sale.
Law firm Knobbe, Martens, Olson
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