REAL ESTATE : New Office Tower Could Be Last in County for a While

Orange County’s newest office tower will probably be the area’s last for at least two years.

Plaza Tower--a plush, 21-story high-rise built by a joint venture partnership of International Business Machines Corp. and an affiliate of Orange County developer C.J. Segerstrom & Sons--opened last month in Costa Mesa. And the new kid on the block may maintain that status well into 1993.

“There will be a hiatus,” said Scott Perley, branch manager of Cushman & Wakefield brokerage in Irvine. “We’ll see a good 12 months without any new starts, and then it would take another year and a half to complete an office building.”

The sluggish economy has reined in the building frenzy of the late ‘80s that left Orange County with too many high-rises and not enough tenants. But the slowdown won’t cure the county’s office vacancy rate--23%--until businesses begin expanding again.

“Even if we don’t build more buildings, we’re going to have the same vacancy rate,” Perley said. “What we need is an increased demand for the office space.”

Until then, Plaza Tower stands alone as a vestige of better times. IBM occupies 37% of the tower, and so far another 4% has been leased to other tenants.

Designed by architect Cesar Pelli, the 475,000-square-foot tower is Orange County’s only stainless steel-surfaced office structure.