Irvine-based Hyundai Capital America Inc. is consolidating a large portion of its sizable local operations at the 4000 MacArthur office campus in Newport Beach.
The automobile finance company, part of South Korea-based Hyundai Motor Group, last week finalized a deal to lease 178,000 square feet at the two-building complex.
The deal, one of the largest local office leases of the past year, is for all of the space at the 10-story west tower at the campus, which is at the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Jamboree Road.
Hyundai Capital will take over space vacated by Conexant Systems Inc., which moved from its longtime headquarters at the complex to a smaller location in Irvine following its 2013 bankruptcy.
The new lease will result in Hyundai Capital relocating employees from four smaller local offices, as well as provide the company room for growth, according to Don Yahn, executive director at the Irvine office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. who represented the tenant in the lease.
Park Place HQ
Hyundai Capital will keep high-profile offices that are about a mile away at the Michelson office tower in the Park Place center in Irvine. It leases the top four floors of the 19-story tower, which overlooks the San Diego (405) Freeway, under a deal that runs until 2019.
The Michelson and 4000 MacArthur offices will be considered co-headquarters for the company.
Hyundai Capital supports the financial-services needs of Hyundai Motor America Inc. in Fountain Valley and Kia Motors America Inc. in Irvine, and does business under the names Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance.
The company said it has grown from $14 billion in assets in 2011 to $24 billion as of 2013, thanks in large part to Hyundai and Kia’s growth in the U.S.
The combined operations of Hyundai and Kia make up the world’s fifth-largest car maker by sales, and the U.S. is Hyundai’s second-largest market behind China.
Hyundai Capital said it serves about 1.3 million car buyers and more than 1,500 Hyundai and Kia dealers.
The company’s portfolio includes mostly auto loans and leases. It also handles commercial and real estate loans and credit lines for dealerships throughout the U.S. and has been rolling out new programs in recent years.
Hyundai Capital has 720 full-time employees in Orange County and nearly another 200 contractors. The 4000 MacArthur building appears large enough to accommodate growth, with room for 700 or so workers.
Similar Styles
The 4000 MacArthur location was chosen due to its close proximity to the Michelson tower, where it leases nearly 100,000 square feet, and the Orange County offices of Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motor America, Yahn said.
4000 MacArthur, part of the Koll Center Newport development near John Wayne Airport, is owned by real estate investor Emmes Group of Cos.
New York-based Emmes took over ownership of the complex in 2011 in a deal valued at $94 million, and it has spent the past few years renovating the property.
Emmes was previously the landlord for Hyundai Capital at the Michelson tower, prior to selling the trophy office to John Hancock Life Insurance Co. for nearly $270 million in 2012.
“The recent capital renovations performed by Emmes were inspired by the Michelson tower,” and the two properties’ similarities drew the tenant to the 4000 MacArthur campus, Yahn said.
Andy White, senior vice president for the Irvine office of JLL, represented Emmes in the lease, which takes one of the larger blocks of higher-end office space in the area around the airport off the market.
The overall vacancy rate in the airport area declined from 14.7% to 12.7% over the past 12 months, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield.
The airport area notched occupancy gains of 248,995 square feet in the fourth quarter and finished 2014 with positive overall net absorption of nearly 1.3 million square feet, marking the fifth consecutive year of positive net absorption, according to the brokerage.
Hyundai Motor Group and its affiliates now occupy nearly 1 million square feet of office space in Orange County, with the last big addition being the 2014 opening of the 470,000-square-foot headquarters for Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley.
The Fountain Valley offices, located alongside the 405 Freeway, were designed by Gensler, and the same architects will play an active role in the construction and buildout of the 4000 MacArthur offices for Hyundai Capital, Yahn said.
