Environmental Science Company Moving Lab to Santa Ana
Orange County, a mecca for science-related industries, will gain another 80 chemists and technicians in October when an environmental management company moves one of its laboratories from Cerritos to Santa Ana.
International Technology Corp. has signed a lease worth $3.2 million over 10 years with Catellus Development Corp. for a facility in PacifiCenter Santa Ana. The single-story, 24,968-square-foot building has stood vacant since Catellus completed the industrial park in 1990.
The move by International Technology, based in Torrance, will give the company a second presence in Orange County. It already has an engineering office in Irvine that employs 100.
Pat Boldt, director of investment relations for International Technology, said the company had outgrown its Cerritos location. It has a total of 11 laboratories, where soil and water samples are tested for chemical composition and radioactivity levels.
“This facility better meets our needs in terms of space, and we like the fact that it is a new building,” Boldt said of the Santa Ana site.
The company also likes its proximity to Cerritos, where many of the lab workers live. “We were looking within a certain radius to accommodate the employees,” Boldt said.
The lease agreement includes extensive tenant improvements, slated for completion next fall, said Robin Leamy, a broker in the Newport Beach office of Langdon Rieder Corp. “The building must be specifically tailored to International Technology’s needs,” said Leamy, who represented the company in the transaction.
Leamy said the lease is a good deal for International Technology. “A few years ago, a comparable building would have gone for 25% more,” he said.
Given today’s slow market, the lease agreement is also a coup for the landlord, said Jerrold Cole, a broker in the Newport Beach office of CB Commercial Real Estate.
“Right now, developers are interested in leasing up available space rather than constructing more buildings,” said Cole, who represented Catellus. “We’re in the process of absorbing a lot of the high-tech buildings built in the late ‘80s. Then we hope to see more construction take place.”
