Web-Hosting Firm Signs Lease in Irvine

GlobalCenter Inc., a Web-hosting company in Sunnyvale, Calif., signed one of the largest leases in Orange County this year--232,000 square feet--as it enters Southern California to service Web sites for local corporate customers, its broker said Thursday. The lease, worth about $70 million over 15 years, gives GlobalCenter room in an Irvine building on Jamboree Boulevard for the computer hardware needed to host Web sites, said Kevin Bender, a director of Ensignia/ESG real estate brokerage, which handled the lease. The company, which plans to set up hosting centers nationwide, could hire up to 100 people for the Irvine operation, he said. GlobalCenter executives could not be reached for comment Thursday.