Even as Alfred Mann calculates his monetary stake in Second Sight Medical Products Inc., he has raised additional capital by selling both of his Valley commercial real estate assets. The 120-acre Mann Biomedical Park in Valencia and the nearly 10-acre Sylmar Biomedical Park were picked up last month by a joint venture of Intertex Cos. in Valencia and L.A. investment firm Oaktree Capital Management LP. The Santa Clarita park is more than just an investment play for the buyers, as it is entitled for nearly 900,000 addition square feet of development. “Once our planned improvements are complete we believe the campus will be the one of the most desirable biomedical hubs in the United States,” said Oaktree Capital Managing Director Mark Jacobs, in a statement. Intertex is a construction firm that has developed more than 1 million square feet of commercial space in the Santa Clarita Valley, including Valencia Center I and Discovery Gateway Spectrum. The firm’s portfolio contained about 300,000 square feet of Santa Clarita Valley space prior to the deal. Tenants at the 600,000-square-foot Valencia park include Bioness Inc., which makes medical devices for people with multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy. Also located there is the Alfred Mann Foundation, a non-profit founded in 1985 by Mann with a donation of $1 million. It has been responsible for spinning off some of the most successful medical device companies in the area, including MannKind Corp. and Second Sight. The Santa Clarita deal, first reported by the Business Journal in September, was estimated at about $100 million by market sources. Mann purchased the park in 2002 from Legacy Partners of Foster City. Prior to that, it was owned by aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., which operated its advanced development program, better known as Skunk Works, on the site. The three-building, 180,000-square-foot Sylmar park houses several other companies in which Mann is actively involved. He is the co-founder, chairman and largest shareholder of Second Sight. In addition, lithium-ion battery maker Quallion LLC is at the park. The firm was founded by Mann, but sold late last year to EnerSys of Reading, Pa. for about $30 million. The Sylmar park is nearly 70 percent occupied, with Quallion leased through 2020 and Second Sight through 2017. Mann originally picked up the park through MiniMed, an insulin pump developer, in 1995 for $4.7 million. Six years later he sold MiniMed to Medtronic Inc. in Minneapolis for $3.7 billion but kept the real estate. Industry insiders have speculated the sales would get some liquidity for Mann, as he looks to reinvest into his companies. His net worth is estimated at about $1.3 billion by Forbes. In addition, Mann has extensive philanthropic commitments, which have included establishing various educational institutes and large donations to Nevada Community Foundation in Las Vegas, where he moved a few years ago though he still retains a Mulholland Drive home. He gave the group $70 million last year. – Elliot Golan
