Getting an affordable deal on office space at Newport Center’s newest and glitziest tower is unlikely, but if anyone was going to drive a bargain with Irvine Co. for space there, it would probably be a tenant representation brokerage.
Savills Studley, the largest commercial real estate brokerage in Orange County that focuses on representing tenants, said it signed a lease for a full floor at Irvine Co.’s 520 Newport Center Drive building.
The long-term deal is for the eighth floor of the 21-story building next to Fashion Island that opened in 2014 and is now largely full.
Terms of the 17,675-square-foot lease were undisclosed. Available space there had been listed at monthly rents of $5.60 per square foot, according to market tracker CoStar Group Inc.
The top floor has reportedly been leased for more than $7 per square foot, which is believed to be the highest rate of any office tower in OC.
Class A office space in OC is about $2.90 per square foot on average, although Newport Beach office rents are closer to $3.30 per square foot, according to area brokerage data.
The lease will allow Savills Studley to consolidate its two local offices at the Atrium tower complex in Irvine and the 610 Newport Center Drive tower, another Irvine Co. property, in Newport Beach.
The latter was the former home of Cresa Orange County, which Savills Studley acquired in February.
The combined firm has roughly 35 brokers and about 55 employees.
The Savills Studley’s OC office is now believed to be the largest tenant advisory group in the Western U.S. by headcount.
“The new office allows us to fully integrate our teams and create a connected environment that facilitates communication and cooperation,” said Royce Sharf, Savills Studley executive vice president and branch manager.
The firm’s newly combined OC office is projected to do over $750 million in deal volume this year, Pat Murphy, the former managing principal of Cresa Orange County, told the Business Journal at the time of the February deal.
“We are working closely with (Irvine-based) LPA architects and our internal workplace strategy team to design offices that engage employees, improve effectiveness and reflect our brand and culture,” said Murphy, who now serves as senior vice president and co-branch manager of the OC office with Sharf.
The space will feature a “modern aesthetic with an emphasis on simplicity and openness, including a series of strategically located collaborative hubs and flexible meeting areas,” the company said in a statement.
Savills Studley plans to move into the space in September.
Mall Buy-Back
The owner of the MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana has bought space previously owned by former anchor tenant Nordstrom Inc.
Property records show an affiliate of Centennial Real Estate Co. bought back property previously owned by Seattle-based Nordstrom, the bulk of which it acquired in late 2015 as part of a $1.1 billion portfolio deal involving five regional malls.
Centennial paid about $10 million for the space, according to CoStar records.
Nordstrom had been the second largest tenant at the 1.1-million-square-foot mall, occupying about 150,500 square feet, according to the landlord’s marketing materials. Macy’s has 225,000 square feet there that it also owns.
Nordstrom closed its department store at MainPlace in March. The closure affected about 195 employees.
Centennial hasn’t announced plans for redeveloping the empty space. It has been renovating other areas of the property over the past year, adding a number of food options.
Long Beach Rentals
Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group, the firm behind the massive Douglas Park multiuse development site next to Long Beach Airport, has another set of projects in store for the city.
The company recently broke ground on a trio of apartment complexes in downtown Long Beach totaling 348 units. Two of the projects, Alamitos and The Linden, are on the eastern edge of the city’s downtown, and the third, The Pacific, is on the west side.
The projects should open by 2019.
