The new Orange County office for Google Inc. fills up the last chapter in the development of Impac Center in Irvine, a four-building office complex nearly a decade in the making.
Next month’s opening of the glass-sheathed, 140,000-square-foot building at 19510 Jamboree Road also marks a new chapter of sorts for ground-up Orange County office development, which has increasingly emphasized creative-style workspaces, environmentally friendly interior and exterior design, and—in a twist on prior iterations—a relatively affordable construction cost.
The building’s architect, Irvine-based Westgroup Designs, calls the latest brand of office design “dynamic performance,” which focuses on being responsive to the needs of owners and tenants while also taking into account the building’s architecture and its surroundings.
Google, known for its creative-office campuses in other markets, was an ideal candidate for such a property.
“You need out-of-the box ideas,” said Shazad Ghanbari, design principal for Westgroup, an architecture, planning and interior design firm. “Having Google as a tenant allowed the (Impac Center’s) developer to take advantage of some of those ideas.”
The results of the out-of-the-box thinking are a split-level office much larger in size than initially envisioned, with an outdoor deck, a private gym, underground parking with space for bicycles and electric vehicles alike, and a wealth of other amenities for the online giant’s employees.
Recent design improvements also resulted in the shell and core construction of the building costing about $18 million, according to Westgroup executives. That’s roughly 75% of the cost of the last new building at the Impac Center.
Similar design conceptions are beginning to take shape at other area office buildings in the planning stages.
Hines
A few blocks from John Wayne Airport, Hines Interests LP in Houston and financial partner Oaktree Capital Management LP in Los Angeles unveiled plans this week for 17850 Von Karman, a 242,000-square-foot office that promises to be a standout in the airport area.
The Gensler-designed building near the intersection of Von Karman Avenue and Main Street will be nine stories and sport a glass and wood façade, along with an abundance of indoor and outdoor meeting spaces.
Hines co-developed the 12-story 2211 Michelson office in Irvine.
The 17850 Von Karman building’s design has some parallels to the 2211 Michelson tower, but also has a number of new features, in particular an emphasis on creative workspace.
The developer, which is still seeking occupants for the proposed building, said prospective tenants “will have the flexibility to design a next-generation workplace with a combination of collaboration and focus spaces or a more traditional layout that optimizes productivity.”
The building is expected to attract corporate and creative businesses, Hines officials said.
“We have designed this project with the flexibility to cater to the lifestyles of the tenant’s workforce,” said Hines Managing Director Ray Lawler, who runs the firm’s Orange County office.
A few miles away at the Tustin Legacy development, the city of Tustin is taking steps to attract its own base of creative offices. It’s currently seeking developers and owner-users to buy land on a 43-acre portion of its former Marine helicopter base, with a goal of turning the site into a multibuilding campus that would be Orange County’s largest-ever creative-office development.
A total of 508,000 square feet of low- and midrise offices could be built and will be geared toward technology, healthcare, apparel and financial companies seeking creative office spaces.
“We look forward to attracting forward-thinking companies to the city of Tustin by delivering a sustainable, flexible and distinctive design that meets their workplace needs now and in the future,” said Jeffrey Parker, Tustin’s city manager.
Google Gains
The new Google building, slated to open in the next month or so, is the fourth and last office at Impac Center, which sits on Jamboree Road near Irvine’s border with Newport Beach.
The complex will total about 600,000 square feet of office space upon the completion of Google’s new home, which is being built by the Irvine office of Suffolk Roel Construction. Pasadena-based Dorn, Platz & Co. is the project’s developer.
The center is also home to Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., TRI Pointe Homes Inc. and Edwards Lifesciences Corp. It also holds an Equinox gym and restaurant space.
Google moved into the center in 2006 when it leased about 70,000 square feet at 19540 Jamboree Road, the second office built there. It’s since expanded its Orange County operations at the complex and employs more than 200 people.
The Irvine location primarily houses Google engineering staff who specialize in data storage, forecasting, inventory management, and search optimization, according to the company’s website.
Google “was fast out-growing their current space” when it entered into discussion with the center’s owners about the last space of developable land at Impac Center, Westgroup Design officials said.
The original plan was to build a building mirroring the 19520 Jamboree office, which is next-door to Google’ new office. That five-story building, constructed in 2008 for the now-defunct Irvine-based John Laing Homes, is about 107,000 square feet and cost $24 million to build, according to news reports at the time of its opening.
Google committed to lease the new building, and a quick redesign was done to fit in nearly 30,000 additional square feet and lay out floors to maximize occupants’ space. That should allow the building’s owner to attract other tenants if the tech giant ever decides to leave, according to Westgroup officials.
The building’s on the cutting edge of environmentally friendly design. It’s one of fewer than 30 office buildings in Southern California expected to have a LEED platinum certification, which is considered the gold standard for green design.
The design of the Google office didn’t translate into the higher construction costs often associated with LEED-rated new construction, according to Westgroup.
Building to LEED specifications can sometimes add a 25% premium to conventional construction costs, but the reported $18 million shell and core construction cost of the Google building was nearly 25% less than the last building to go up at the Impac Center.
