REAL ESTATE : Business Parks Winning Tenants by Making the Buildings Fit the Firms

Adaptable buildings are the key to the leasing success of several Orange County business parks.

One of those is the Southpark project in Fountain Valley, which offers shell structures that can be completed to the specifications of buyers. That strategy seems to be successful. Southpark has already leased 89% of its 224,000 square feet built in 1990 and 1991 phases.

“Instead of looking to fit businesses into Southpark, we try to fit Southpark into the needs of the company,” said Dave Desper, the CB Commercial Real Estate agent leasing the project.

Another success story is 2-year-old MacArthur Park in Santa Ana, a 100,000-square-foot project that is 86% leased. “People don’t want their office space in one place and their warehouse elsewhere,” said Jim Snyder, senior vice president of Lee & Associates in Newport Beach, leasing agent for the project.

Or look at Harbor Gateway. The 11-year-old C.J. Segerstrom & Sons project in Costa Mesa added 80,000 square feet in 1990 and now has 99% occupancy.

In Southpark’s case, Desper also gives high marks to Fountain Valley officials. The city has aggressively wooed new businesses, met with prospective tenants to reassure them of the city’s friendly attitude and worked to help tenants meet city regulations, he said.