Orange County Center: Where the Action Is
Nowhere is absorption of office space in Orange County more apparent than in the central sector, where a 42% increase was reported for 1987 over the previous year.
This represents more than double the increase registered by the John Wayne Airport area during the same period, according to Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services spokesman.
“Development in Orange County is definitely leaning toward its center,” agreed Lucien Truhill, president of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce.
“Twenty years ago, the region was developing at an equal pace countywide, then the airport area gradually became the dominant development sector. Now we are seeing strong commercial investment in the Brea area and around the Irvine Spectrum, but the major wave of development is occurring in central Orange County.”
The “growth phenomenon” in the region, Truhill noted, has been most visible during the past three years, with central Orange County again becoming a core for office tenants.
The current boom has been demonstrated at Nexus City Square, a $120-million, 400,000-square-foot mixed-use office development in the city of Orange that is being completed this month, with 92% of its space already leased.
The project, at The City Drive and Garden Grove Boulevard at the junction of the Santa Ana (5), Garden Grove (22) and Orange (57) freeways, is credited with a major role in absorption records set in central Orange County and countywide.
Previous Project
More than 337,000 square feet were leased at Nexus City Square during 1987, while construction was still under way on the project’s 8-story tower, its two 4-story office buildings and 2-story build-to-suit facilities.
Nexus City Square, a project originated by the Irvine-based Nexus USA, also includes the 124-suite Woodfin Suites Hotel and a 12,400-square-foot retail center, Nexus-Promenade Orange, both set to open this month.
Scott T. Burnham, principal in the developing firm, said the opening of Nexus City Square follows by two years the opening of the 315,000-square-foot Nexus Financial Center, also in city Orange, with 85% of the project leased at completion.
The executive added that, by being in the forefront of the current wave of development in the central Orange County area, this edge has reaped for Nexus not only considerable leasing activity but an elite class of tenants.
These include the RCA Group of General Electric Co., Westinghouse, Nissan, Nike Shoes, Fujitsu, Farmers Insurance and a division of National Medical Enterprises. Barclay’s Bank of London and Zurich-American Insurance Group are also among the lessees.
“It has become more and more attractive for firms to relocate to central Orange County,” Burnham observed, because of the availability of housing and convenient access for a large labor pool extending into Los Angeles and Riverside counties.
Other Major Projects
Nexus City Square, owned by Nexus City Square Associates, with Burnham and his partner, Curtis R. Olson, as the principal partners, was designed by Langdon Wilson Mumper Architects of Newport Beach. Nexus Construction is the general contractor and Nexus USA is the property manager.
In addition to the two Nexus projects, a total in excess of 1.1 million square feet representing large-scale developments, are under way in the immediate area. Financial institutions backing those projects include such giants as Metropolitan Life Insurance, Mellon and First Chicago banks and Executive Life Insurance.
High-rise office development in central Orange County was launched in the early 1960s by Murdock Development’s Union Bank Square project on North Main Street in Orange, featuring two 12-story towers and one 6-story building.
Other major developers have looked to central Orange County since the 1970s with consistent confidence, notably Tishman West Management Corp., developer of The City project since 1974 with the backing of Metropolitan Life Insurance.
Hotel and Mall
The City comprises more than 2 million square feet of office space, has a 460-room Doubletree Hotel and an enclosed mall with more than 100 retail stores and restaurants. It has just completed its 20-story, 410,000-square-foot City Tower.
Koll Co., another major developer based in Orange County for 25 years and well-established in the south county, has shown significant interest in the central county with its major project, the Koll Center in Orange.
The $350-million mixed-use corporate complex at the intersection of the Santa Ana, Orange and Garden Grove freeways, will have four office towers with 1.3 million square feet, two restaurants, an athletic center and a 230-suite Hilton hotel.
Additional signs of growth in central Orange County include the renovation of the Santa Ana Fashion Mall, renamed The Main Place, by Henry Segerstrom and JMB Federated Realty, and the development of the area surrounding Anaheim Stadium.
Phase 1 of Stadium Center, with four 18-story buildings, has been completed. The integrated business center in a park-like setting, is a project of Anaheim Stadium Associates and Cabot, Cabot & Forbes.
