JUNE 15, 2015 Local breaking news: www.ocbj.com ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL 3

Brian Sullivan is no relation, but he musthave a great mind—because the co-anchor ofCNBC’s daily Power Lunch program and theInsider think alike. This column was the firstvoice in the media to note that last year’s splitbetween Bill Gross and Pimcomade NewportCenter all the more important in the world offinance. That other Sullivan came to OrangeCounty last week and declared that the presenceof Pimco and the Janus office Gross now

m a n s—a l o n gwith DoubleLineand TCW, bothbased in L.A.—make SouthernCalifornia thecenter of the bond

industry. He even gave the region partial crediton Larry Fink, the boss of N.Y.-based Black-Rockwho counts Gross as a fellow UCLA grad… The remarks were part of a Hall-of-Fame-quality panel Janus hosted for select investmentadvisers at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.The gathering came amid last week’s flightfrom bonds, but that didn’t stop Gross fromturning in a star performance as he banteredwith Sullivan; Nobel Laureate Myron Scholesof the Black-Scholes Model; Enrique Chang,who serves as chief investment officer of equi-ties and asset allocation for Denver-based Janus;and Carmel Wellso, director of research at thefirm … Gross got the biggest laugh of the daywith a riposte to Wellso after she told the crowdthat demographics can sometimes help investorsfind less obvious “pockets of strength.” A com-pany that specializes in geriatric drugs might beattractive, for example, because “one-third ofyou will have dementia after the age of 85,” shesaid. “Thanks for the 85,” quipped the 71-year-old Gross … Anyone else notice UCI Chancel-lor Howard Gillman, who wants to makegame-changing hires for UCI’s faculty, havinglunch with hedge funder/card counter/profes-sor/grandfather Ed Thorp at Bistango lastweek? Might Gillman be doing some early re-cruiting in hopes of landing Thorp’s grandchil-dren? All three of the Goul triplets are headedfrom Sage Hill School to MIT, where they’llfollow in the footsteps of their grandfather, whofigured out how to beat Vegas with card count-ing while a member of the faculty at the Cam-bridge campus, and eventually wrapped up hisacademic career at UCI… Follow along on thisone, which starts with a link to Sage Hill. TheNewport Coast school’s president, Gordon Mc-Neill, and his wife, Anne Marie, took theirfamily to Africa as part of the Me to We pro-gram, which matches volunteers with folks inneed worldwide. Then there’s Vicki Booth, atrustee at Sage Hill who also serves as chair ofthe board of governors at the Orange CountyCommunity Foundation. Booth was instru-mental in helping OCCF President ShelleyHoss wrangle through the challenges that comewith making a commitment to taking a hiatus.The McNeills offered some perspective, too,and now Hoss and her son, Sean, are set for aMe to We trip to Africa as part of her upcomingunplugging … Anne Marie McNeill, Booth andHoss all were at the home of Julia and GeorgeArgyros a few weeks back when the couplepledged $1 million to help their daughter,Stephanie, follow in their philanthropic foot-steps. Stephanie has taken on the role of co-chair of the Southern California chapter of WeDay, which aims to bring child-empowermentand edification to 1,000 schools throughoutSouthern California. The Toronto-based organ-ization counts Me to We as one of its programs,and McNeill and Hoss both got the chance tomeet founder Craig Kielburger during thekickoff event at the Argyros home on HarborIsland.

us a leg up as a desti-nation.”The five media are:� Middle East

Broadcasting CenterGroup, or MBC, anEnglish-language TVstation based in Dubaiand owned by Saudibillionaire Waleed AlIbrahim;

� Dubai TV, whichbroadcasts in Arabicand is operated by government-run DubaiMedia Inc.;

� Al Bayan, an Arabic newspaper also op-erated by Dubai Media;

CNBC Anchor GivesPlug; Gross Gets Laughs; Hoss on Way

The Orange County Visitors Associationis hosting five Middle East media outlets thismonth and in July that plan to produce broad-cast and written accounts of the area in news-papers, magazines, and a 13-week televisionseries.The Irvine organization hopes for visitorsfrom Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates,Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.“This is a unique opportunity for us,” said

Ed Fuller, OCVA’s chief executive. “It gives

Travel Groups Gain Ground on Middle East Push

�Middle East 12

Orange-based Western Dental ServicesInc. has laid off 237 workers as it attemptsto deal with a shift in its business wroughtby healthcare reform.Western Dental operates dental officesthroughout California and Texas.The layoffs were effective late last

month, according to aWorker Adjustmentand Retraining Notifi-cation Act notice filedwith the state Em-ployment Develop-ment Department.Most of the job cuts“were in … businesssupport functionssuch as call center,billing and collectionsdepartments,” said

Chief Executive Simon Castellanos, whoadded that the call center will permanentlyclose after July.Western Dental had to “make commen-surate adjustments” in staffing after itstopped taking Denti-Cal patients at someof its offices, Castellanos said in an email.Denti-Cal is a state- and federally subsi-dized dental insurance program for lower-income Californians. Castellanos said thatthe restoration of adult Denti-Cal benefits

The Santa Ana office complex that holdsthe soon-to-be former headquarters of In-gram Micro Inc. has traded hands.The Brookhollow Group, a Costa Mesa-based investment and development com-pany, recently completed the purchase ofPacific Center, a two-building office com-plex totaling 392,877 square feet.The property is just off the Costa Mesa(55) Freeway on St. Andrew Place.Terms of the sale were not disclosed. The buildings likely traded hands for morethan $40 million based on other recent largesales of similar-sized office properties. That

would make it one of Orange County’s largeroffice sales of the year.Brookhollow Group bought Pacific Centerin a venture with longtime financial partnerPCCP LLP, a Los Angeles-based investmentmanagement firm that has about $5.5 billionin assets under management.It is the largest local reported purchase for

By PAUL HUGHES

�Ingram Micro 12

Brookhollow Group in several years.The seller of Pacific Center is said to be alarge institutional owner based on the EastCoast. It was represented by Kevin Shannon,Paul Jones, Scott Schumacher, and BlakeBokosky, brokers with CBRE Group Inc.The campus is fully leased but will be com-

TOURISM: Five media outletseat, play, film in Orange County

Denti-Cal ConcernsCited in Job Cuts

By VITA REED

HEALTHCARE: Western Dentaltrims 237, closes 13 offices

�Western Dental 8

By MARK MUELLER

Castellanos: “believewe have adjusted ap-propriately”

Pacific Center: technology distributor expected to make move to Irvine this summer

REAL ESTATE: Likely fetches$40M-plus from local buyer

� Check-Inn TV, a cable TV travel chan-nel based in Qatar; and

� The in-flight magazine for Etihad Air-ways, the United Arab Emirates’ national air-line OCVA opened a sales office in Dubai morethan a year ago that generated the interest.“Our team there was able to secure this,”Fuller said. The projects put Orange County “ahead ofthe game compared to other destinations inthe state” in attracting Middle East tourism,said Jay Burress, chief executive of the Ana-heim/Orange County Visitor & ConventionBureau.He also cited increased flights to Southern

Fuller: “it gives us aleg up as a destina-tion”

Ingram Micro HQ Complex Changes Hands

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12 ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL Local breaking news: www.ocbj.com JUNE 15, 2015

� from page 3Ingram Micropletely vacant by August, making it one ofthe county’s largest empty blocks of officespace, according to CBRE.Ingram Micro, Orange County’s largest

company by sales and the largest tenant atPacific Center, has used the campus as itsheadquarters for the past 15 years, but isgearing up for a move to Irvine this summer.It leases all the space at one of the campus’

buildings that runs about 188,000 square feet. The other building at Pacific Center is

about 204,000 square feet and is partly leasedto other tenants, who are also moving out fol-lowing the sale.

Ingram LeaseThe Business Journal reported in January

that Ingram had signed a nearly 175,000-square-foot lease at the low-rise portion ofthe Park Place mixed-use campus near JohnWayne Airport.The deal, one of the largest local office

leases in the past few years, runs for morethan 10 years and begins this summer, ac-cording to real estate sources.Ingram has yet to officially announce the

relocation of its headquarters to Irvine orterms of its new lease, in its regulatory fil-ings.The company has about 1,000 workers in

Santa Ana, according to Business Journalrecords.It was one of the five largest employers

there as of 2010, according to the most recentdata available from the city.

Ingram has a market value of about $4.2billion.Ingram once owned Pacific Center but sold

the two-building campus in the late 1990s.The soon-to-be-empty buildings offer the

new owners “a true value-add opportunity tolease-up the vacant buildings and put on sep-arate parcels, while taking advantage of futurerental rate growth in the rising Orange Countyoffice market,” said Jones, a first vice presi-dent in CBRE’s Newport Beach office.OC “is one of the top rental rate growth

markets in the county, projecting an increaseof more than 30% over the next five years,”Jones said.The two buildings at Pacific Center sit on

one parcel totaling 24.4 acres and are con-nected via a fly bridge. �

July Dec. May

24

30IM

Ingram Micro Inc.� Headquarters: Santa Ana� Business: Technology distributor,service provider� Founded: 1979� Ticker symbol: IM (NYSE)� 2014 revenue: $46.5 billion� Recent earnings: $43.3 millionfor April quarter� Market value: About $4.23 billion

� from page 3Middle EastCalifornia by several Middle East airlines. Fuller has said Etihad Airways crews stay

at the Hilton Anaheim, and Burress figuredinternational crews take “a hundred rooms anight” each time they have a layover.

FiguresThe number of Middle Eastern travelers to

Orange County is tough to nail down. Thelatest data from tourism marketing organiza-tion Visit California showed that 225,000came to the state in 2013, up 14% over 2012,and they spent about $561 million—less perday but more per stay than other foreign trav-elers, because they stay longer.

Tajamul Hussain, the chief strategy offi-

cer and executive producer of Check-Inn TVwho is overseeing the filming here, said trav-elers from the Middle East stay an average of17 days on their trips.

LuxeMedia crews are “looking at every aspect

of Orange County,” including historical siteslike the county courthouse in Santa Ana andMission San Juan Capistrano. Still, definitedraws are the luxe parts of OC.“They filmed our spa, the meeting space,

the lobby and concierge, and went into thekitchen,” said Fairmont Newport BeachHotel General Manager Karl Kruger. He said a crew asked if they could film a

“fusion Middle Eastern dinner” being madeand served while they were there.“Our chef’s pretty adaptable,” he said. “We

can [work with] just about anything.” �

Bambu Bar: feature at Fairmont Newport Beach Hotel, where Middle East TV crew filmed

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