COMMERCIAL
The Irvine Company is bullish on what it can charge future tenants at a planned office development in Irvine, according to sources.
The Newport Beach-based developer plans five office buildings at its Irvine Technology Center for a total of 270,000 square feet. The two-story, concrete tilt-up buildings are planned near The Marketplace shopping center straddling Irvine and Tustin.
The company is set to break ground in summer.
The developer is set to ask $2.05 per square foot per month as base rent, according to sources.
Once a tenant adds in operating expenses, such as property tax and electricity, they’d be paying anywhere from $2.50 to $2.80 per square foot per month, brokers said.
In other words, the Irvine Co. plans to charge rent on par with steel-framed office towers, brokers said. Reasons likely include higher materials costs and because company officials feel the location can command a rent premium, according to brokers.
Prices of both concrete and steel have shot up this year.
Bill Rams, an Irvine Co. spokesman, said the developer typically doesn’t discuss rents. Prices for the new buildings haven’t been set yet, he said.
The average rent for class A space in South County is $2.18, according to Voit Commercial Brokerage LP. That rate includes operating expenses. Irvine Technology Center is considered South County, though it’s at the northern border.
Jerry Holdner, who heads market research for Voit, said the Irvine Co. could charge bullish rent if the office market reaches that point when construction is finished.
“I don’t think today they could,” Holdner said.
The Irvine Technology Center should be compared to the Irvine Spectrum, where the average rent for office space is $2.28, Holdner said.
I first wrote about the company’s development plans earlier this month in the Business Journal.
Existing space at the office park goes for $1.60 to $1.70 per square foot per month, according to the Irvine Co.’s Web page.
RESIDENTIAL
As if Orange-based subprime lender Ameriquest Mortgage Co. isn’t growing fast enough on its own, it received $25 million in state grants and tax credits related to its expansion in Schaumburg, Ill.
The company is set to expand its loan servicing operation in the Chicago suburb and could add some 1,500 workers in the next two years, according to Illinois officials.
Sister company Argent Mortgage Co. plans to add 600 jobs in Illinois in Rolling Meadows.
Tax credits account for the bulk of the state’s largesse, $23 million. Illinois is set to pay $1.75 million in grants for development and worker training from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Ameriquest is benefiting from the state’s Opportunity Returns economic development program.
Housing Survey
Getting the right information from a survey can be tricky business. A survey about housing by the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California made headlines earlier this month.
Perhaps the most shocking conclusion: 24% of Californians surveyed said the cost of housing has made them seriously consider moving somewhere else, possibly outside the state.
But how many of those respondents ever would leave?
The question was worded, “Does the cost of your housing make you and your family seriously consider moving away from the part of California you live in now?”
I think you could design an entire survey on that topic alone. I’d follow up the above question with some of my own:
Do you live near family? Would you consider being away from relatives a reason to move or not to move? Would putting a few miles between you and your siblings be considered, good, bad or indifferent?
Do you believe you could find an equal or better paying job in an area where housing costs less? Would you be willing to earn a little less in salary if your housing payments were a lot smaller?
Are you so sick of traffic on the freeways that Montana is beginning to sound appealing?
If you were not spending two hours a day in bumper-to-bumper traffic, what would you do with that time if you lived in Arizona or Florida?
Do you think traffic only will get worse in Orange County because of a failure of public and political will to provide mass transit in the form of a rail system or more frequent buses?
When you’re idling forward in your SUV at three miles per hour do you daydream of Seattle?
How important is the really great weather to your happiness? Would you like to live somewhere with actual seasons?
Are you afraid of snow?
