Albertson’s Going Into Plaza Pacifica; NAIOP SoCal Debuts
COMMERCIAL
The law firm of O’Melveny & Myers is expanding by opening a new office at Pacifica Court in the Irvine Spectrum.
The LA-based firm, which already has an office in Newport Beach, has signed a 10-year lease with Pacifica Court. The deal is valued at more than $3.8 million, or $2.40 a square foot.
The growing legal company has been courted heavily in recent months by several prominent landlords. A litigation partner at O’Melveny & Myers, Brett Williamson, said the decision was based on a desire to be close to an existing base of Orange County technology clients.
“The new office is going to be dedicated to helping emerging technology companies,” said Williamson. “We are already pretty active in servicing the technology sector. But we plan to expand that scope even more in the future.”
The new Pacifica Court operation will open with 10 lawyers and 10 other staff members. O’Melveny & Myers’ new office will tackle intellectual-property cases, patent prosecution, trademark applications and provide advice on valuing technology-related assets.
The new office is expected to be up and running in early March.
“We had some formidable competition for their business,” said George Ceithaml of Banyan Realty Group, developers of Pacifica Court. “The Irvine Company certainly had plenty of good space available for them.”
As recently as two months ago, Ceithaml said, he had heard his firm was out of the running. But with much of Pacifica Court’s ground floor still open,which was exactly what O’Melveny & Myers was looking for, Banyan won the leasing battle.
The law firm will take 13,225 square feet in the four-story office complex. Completed late last summer, Pacifica Court has floors of about 27,000 square feet apiece and is now 46% leased.
Other tenants include chipmaker AMD, software developer Synopsys and Interim Staffing.
In addition to the recently signed deals, Ceithaml said letters of intent have been signed for the balance of the building’s fourth floor. Two other companies have submitted proposals to take the remaining portion of the complex, which consists of the entire third floor.
Marketing Pacifica Court is the CB Richard Ellis team of Scott Johnstone, Bob Davis and Greg Puccinelli.
***
Boise, Idaho-based Albertson’s has bought 6.5 acres in San Clemente to build a 57,000-square-foot supermarket.
The early plan is to open the new store by early next year at Plaza Pacifica, the 450,000 square foot shopping center under construction at Avenida Pico and La Pata Avenue. Pacific Development Group of Newport Beach is the project’s developer.
The Albertson’s store will join Wal-Mart, which opened in Plaza Pacifica in October.
Also set to be included in the new center are Taco Bell, Carl’s Jr. and El Pollo Loco. Lowe’s Home Improvement and Mobil Oil are in escrow and expected to close later this quarter on deals to open outlets at the plaza.
Mark Murrel of the Murrel Co. in Newport Beach represented Albertson’s in the deal.
The broker marketing the plaza, Cameron Crowner of CB Richard Ellis in Anaheim, is also close to negotiating leases with several other companies.
“Plaza Pacifica’s trade area has been under-served by retail,” he said. “Over the years, retailing dollars have leaked to neighboring communities located to the north. This project will provide much-needed retailing categories to the San Clemente community.”
Besides Plaza Pacifica, pointed out Crowner, plans are to develop the nearby Rancho San Clemente Business Park into a 3 million-square-foot complex.
Just in case you were in another world last week, the Orange County and Los Angeles County chapters of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties are merging.
The new group, NAIOP SoCal, will include 450 members and be headquartered in Costa Mesa. It will become the third-largest NAIOP chapter in the country and the largest commercial real estate trade association in Southern California.
“This merger is a direct reflection of the industry, because most of our members conduct business in both counties,” said J.R. Wetzel of Pacific Gulf Properties, the president of NAIOP Orange County. “Since the Orange County and Los Angeles markets are so interrelated, we felt it was necessary to broaden the scope of the chapter in order to better serve the members in both markets and create a more prominent voice for commercial real estate.”
The new chapter also will play a greater role in state and national issues.
“I am very excited about this merger as it will provide our members in these two important real estate markets with increased opportunities and benefits, particularly as it relates to the many legislative challenges we face in Sacramento,” said Thomas J. Bisacquino, national president of NAIOP.
Wetzel will oversee the newly formed group. His executive committee includes: President-elect Guy Johnson, Johnson Capital Group; Treasurer Tim Strader, Opus West; Secretary Stan Lamport, Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP; and past presidents Al Beaudette, redelta.com and David Thurman, Concorde Real Estate Partners.
Nationally, NAIOP has 8,000 members in 47 North American chapters.
RESIDENTIAL
Costa Mesa-based Burnett Development Corp. has finalized another $17 million in financing for its 300-acre, masterplanned Rio Vista Village in Cathedral City.
The deal, through tax-exempt bonds authorized by Cathedral City, comes after Burnett Development secured nearly $12 million for the project from private lenders. In total, the project has raised $35 million from various private and public sources.
“That total will be adequate to complete the project,” said Burnett, chief executive of the company. “We expect to break ground March 1.”
With a three- to four-year build-out schedule, the total value of the project is expected to reach $180 million.
“That’s counting the value of the (1,362) completed homes,” said Burnett.
