RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE : Development Firm Moves to O.C.--but Not to Own Building

A major Japanese-owned residential development firm has moved its U.S. headquarters to Costa Mesa from downtown Los Angeles. The move, officials said, was prompted by a desire to find a location that is more central to its operations.

Kowa Bussan USA--which has 10 employees and developments in Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties--is primarily a builder of entry-level homes.

Its biggest project is a new 5,000-home development in the Kern County community of Rosamond.

The company, a subsidiary of Kowa Bussan Co. in Tokyo, also owns several commercial office buildings, including a high-rise in Santa Ana’s Hutton Centre.

But, in what might not go down on the books as the best marketing ploy ever devised, Kowa Bussan USA is not moving into its own building. Instead, it has leased space in the new Center Tower at South Coast Plaza Town Center.

In a press release about the move from Los Angeles, Toshiharu Nishiyori, vice president of Kowa Bussan USA, is quoted as saying that the company moved into the new 21-story building because it is “the type of high-profile building we want for our U.S. headquarters.”

Wonder what that makes the firm’s Santa Ana high-rise?