Canon Computer Moving Into Building Near Airport

Computer-maker Canon Computer Systems Inc. has signed one of the largest leases in Orange County so far this year.

Canon will lease 88,000 square feet--most of it office space, some of it for research and light industrial use--for its headquarters in a two-story Costa Mesa building near John Wayne Airport.

At the going rate of 75 cents per square foot per month to lease similar buildings in the neighborhood, the 10-year Canon lease is probably worth about $7 million to landlord Allstate Insurance Co., said real estate brokers--minus what Allstate will pay to refit the building for its new tenant.

Canon Computer is a unit of Canon Inc., the big Tokyo manufacturer of printers, copiers and other office equipment.

The computer unit’s 120 local workers have been housed nearby in a smaller building on Costa Mesa’s Paularino Avenue that is owned by the parent company.

Part of the new building had been leased by Keith Cos., an engineering firm that has moved to another building in the area to make room for Canon.

The computer-maker’s newest product--introduced in April--is an eight-pound portable notebook computer with a built-in printer. It is manufactured in Japan.

Canon plunged into the crowded market for personal computers last year despite a massive shakeout in the industry.

Steve Case, a CB Commercial Real Estate broker who represented the landlord, said Canon declined to disclose particulars about the lease. Brokers at Cushman & Wakefield represented Canon.