Unocal in Talks to Move Division to Costa Mesa : Commerce: The oil giant wants to lease the B of A building near South Coast Plaza. It would bring hundreds of jobs and become one of the county’s top 10 businesses.

Signaling a growing corporate confidence in Orange County’s long-term prospects, oil giant Unocal Corp. is negotiating to move 500 employees and the headquarters of a key division to the county.

The Los Angeles company’s marketing and refining arm, 76 Products Co., wants to lease the 12-story Bank of America building near South Coast Plaza, said Lawrence W. Higby, president of 76 Products.

If the deal is signed, the Unocal subsidiary would become one of the county’s 10 largest businesses with annual sales of $2.5 billion.

It would also be one of the largest relocations of a work force to Orange County since Rockwell International Corp. moved 1,300 employees to its Seal Beach headquarters from El Segundo in 1993.

“We think, long-term, Orange County is a good place to do business and a good place for people to live,” said Higby, who was named president when the subsidiary was created last July. “The track record of the business community here, as well as its citizens, indicates that Orange County will overcome the short-term bankruptcy problems.”

The proposed moved of the 76 Products division brought cheers from business leaders in Orange County, which filed for bankruptcy in December after it lost $1.7 billion in risky investments.

“It’s very important in light of the Orange County bankruptcy,” said Bill Steele, director of real estate services for the Costa Mesa accounting firm of Deliotte & Touche. “Its a very positive indicator that an employer would make a commitment like that to our area.”

Steele said the possible move is a signal of better things to come for Orange County.

Cushman Realty Corp. in Los Angeles is representing the Unocal division in its negotiations for a 10-year lease on the 230,000-square-foot building, which contains a B of A branch.

If the deal goes through, Unocal will move 350 workers from its Brea facilities to the B of A building and 300 employees from Los Angeles to Costa Mesa. Unocal then would move about 200 more workers from Los Angeles to the Brea facility, Higby said.

“This is a huge vote of confidence for Orange County,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles. “It should catch people’s attention and get them to view the county bankruptcy in more global terms.”

Unocal Corp. which has about 900 employees at its headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, said in December that it had abandoned plans to lease new headquarters in a planned Los Angeles complex and that it would look elsewhere, including outside Los Angeles.

Higby said Unocal would likely keep its corporate headquarters in the Los Angeles area, but would house only 80 to 100 workers there.

Costa Mesa city officials, who were contacted late Friday, were not aware of the oil giant’s possible move.

“I hadn’t heard,” said Perry Valentine, the city’s planning manager. “There’s a lot of empty office space around here they could move into. Or they could build their own building.”

Local business development leaders hailed the news.

“It’s a real positive statement regarding the business climate in Orange County,” said Wayne D. Wedin, chairman of the Orange County Business Council.

Costa Mesa is popular, analysts say, because it is close to John Wayne Airport and has lower business license fees than many other cities in Orange County.

Wedin said the jobs Unocal will bring to Costa Mesa are “high quality, highly educated, technical jobs” that provide much higher wages than the service sector, which has created many of the county’s new jobs in recent years.

Times staff writers John O’Dell and Don Lee contributed to this report.