COMMERCIAL
A big accounting firm is relocating its headquarters to Brea from Los Angeles County.
Moore Stephens Wurth Frazer and Torbet LLP just signed a 19,211-square-foot office lease at 135 S. State College Blvd.
The accounting and consulting firm, part of the London-based Moore Stephens International Ltd. association of independently owned professional services firms, will be relocating its headquarters from nearby City of Industry. It has about 75 local employees.
The company’s planning for some growth after the move to Brea, which is scheduled for August. The new office holds space for about 100 people, according to brokers with the Anaheim office of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., which represented Moore Stephens in the lease.
Moore Stephens’ clients are a combination of wealthy people and public and private companies in industries such as manufacturing, construction, agricultural business, wholesale and distribution.
The lease is a boon for landlord Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc., which has seen some recent tenant departures in Brea.
Maguire’s six Brea-area buildings total about 537,420 square feet. They were 66% full at the end of 2008, following the departure of Capital Group Cos.’ local offices to a new campus in Irvine. Capital Group recently said it plans to close its remaining Brea office and move the last of its workers in the city to Irvine.
The seven-year Moore Stephens lease is valued at $3.4 million, which translates into monthly rents of about $2.08 per square foot.
Tom Abel, Taylor Ing and Michael Day from the Anaheim office of CB Richard Ellis represented the tenant in the deal.
Moore Stephens also counts an office in Orange, where about 36 employees work. The firm plans to remain in Orange as well, instead of consolidating the two offices, according to Abel.
The two offices should make Moore Stephens one of the larger accounting firms in the county. Only 11 firms here counted more than 100 local employees, according to the Business Journal’s most recent ranking of accounting firms, taken last July.
Smiling Sublease
Dental care provider SmileCare LLC has extended the lease for its Santa Ana headquarters.
The company, which also goes under the name Community Dental Services, renewed a lease for 23,113 square feet at 2 MacArthur Blvd., which borders the campus of First American Corp. SmileCare has been at the office tower since 2004.
The deal’s a sublease of space from Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp. The software company leases 205,320 square feet of space at the office tower.
Late last year MSC.Software subleased about 69,400 square feet of that space at the nine-floor tower, but said an additional 51,400 square feet was also available. The company’s master lease runs through 2013.
SmileCare’s deal is for one floor of space and runs for four and a half years. It’s paying about $2.5 million for the sublease, or monthly rents of roughly $2 per square foot.
Bruce Schuman and Wendy Han, from the Irvine office of Studley Inc., represented SmileCare in the deal. Newmark Knight Frank’s Jim Sladack and Myron Galchutt represented MSC.Software.
Aliso Sale
A 13,386-square-foot portion of the Aliso Viejo Town Center has traded hands. The property, occupied by a Walgreens, sold for nearly $8.9 million, or about $662 per square foot.
Dennis Vaccaro, director for Irvine-based Faris Lee Investments, represented the seller, Dana Point-based Aliso Commons Corner LLC. The buyer, Zamindari Real Estate Investment Two LLC of Laguna Beach, was represented by Anil Sharma of Lotus Investments.
In early 2006, Faris Lee brokered another 47,000-square-foot section of the same shopping center, for $39 million, or nearly $830 per square foot. The brokerage also is currently shopping an 181,160-square-foot portion of the shopping center. The asking price is $54.5 million, or about $300 per square foot.
RESIDENTIAL
In our March 9 ranking of Orange County’s largest title companies, our figures showed eight local title companies closing up shop in the past year as home sales and refinancings dried up. Another seven closed up the prior year.
But at least one new title company is opening up shop.
Advantage Title Inc. said it kicked off operations in Irvine this month. The company’s leasing space on the first floor of Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc.’s headquarters on Jamboree Road.
The company’s chief executive is Michael Tafoya, who previously managed OC operations for LandAmerica United Title Co., part of bankrupt Virginia-based LandAmerica Financial Group.
Advantage Title said it will be using more up-to-date technology than its peers use, including an online transaction management tool called Title365.
Title insurance policies from Advantage Title are underwritten by Stewart Title Guaranty Co. of Houston and Santa Ana-based First American Title Insurance Co.
