Mice DisplayWorks in Irvine is bucking the trend of Orange County companies moving their distribution and warehouse operations to the Inland Empire.
The designer and builder of high-end trade show exhibits has renewed its lease for two buildings in the Irvine Spectrum’s Oak Canyon Business Center. It is one of the largest South County industrial deals this year.
The two buildings, at 6489 and 6485 Oak Canyon Road, total about 205,000 square feet and are owned by The Irvine Company. They house production and warehouse operations for the company, which is known as DisplayWorks. It also has some office space at the site.
DisplayWorks, a unit of Britain’s Mice Group PLC, also has operations in San Mateo and Portland. About 140 of the company’s 200 employees work here in Irvine.
The 10-year lease was for about $16 million, according to Kevin Turner, senior vice president for the Irvine office of Colliers International Inc., which represented the tenant. Sue Lyle represented the Irvine Co.
DisplayWorks had been in the space the past 10 years after moving from Costa Mesa. It was exploring its options before renewing the lease, said Herb Hite, the company’s president.
As with many OC-based companies that need big chunks of industrial space, the Inland Empire was given major consideration, said Colliers’ Turner.
In the end, OC’s labor pool and proximity to clients and suppliers outweighed any moving-related cost savings.
DisplayWorks’ clients include Irvine-based chipmaker Broadcom Corp., Huntington Beach-based surfwear maker Quiksilver Inc., Irvine-based heart valve maker Edward Lifesciences Corp. and Japan’s Toshiba Corp., which has several North American units based in OC.
Other clients include Cisco Systems Inc. and Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN.
Tustin Gets Office Condos
Russ Werdin, one of the first developers to target small buildings for sale in OC, still sees strong demand in the local office condominium market.
Newport Beach-based Werdin Corp. and its partner, Saunders Properties, are planning one of the first for-sale office condo projects near the tustin Legacy mixed-use complex.
The company just announced the development of Pacific Office Plaza, a 66,472-square-foot office condo project in Tustin at 1422 and 1432 Edinger Ave. The project is about a mile from Tustin Legacy, on land formerly owned by Pacific Bell, now AT & T; Inc.
The development will include a pair of two-story buildings in a campus setting. Suite sizes will start at 2,000 square feet. The properties are being marketed at about $335 per square foot.
Pacific Office Plaza is scheduled for completion with occupancy in the first quarter of 2007. The $22.5 million project is being financed by Wells Fargo & Co. along with co-investor Hanover Capital.
Demand for office condos is strong, according to Werdin. He built another Tustin office condo project, Pacific Business Center, nearby in 2003.
“Besides the benefits of ownership, the trend appears to be additionally driven by the shortage of quality rental space in the widening sphere of the Orange County airport market,” he said.
Chris Bates, David Bolt and Jon Marchorlatti at CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. will serve as brokers for the property.
Office developers are taking advantage of high prices for residential land in Southern California by selling land for homes or, in some cases, even developing houses themselves.
Now, in a twist, homebuilders are starting to take notice of OC’s surging office market.
Notably, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based residential developer West Millennium Homes just bought 4000 Metropolitan Drive, an 182,935-square-foot office building near The Block at Orange.
The deal, which closed about a month ago, was valued at $38 million, or about $208 per square foot.
The building is the West Coast office of Chesterbrook, Pa.-based drug maker AmerisourceBergen Corp., which sold the building. The four-story building was built in 1985. It was 50% occupied at the time of sale.
The buyers plan to renovate the property and add a parking structure.
AmerisourceBergen will continue to lease about 23,000 square feet in the building for some of its West Coast operations.
Michael Randall of Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Newport Beach office represented the seller in the deal. Jerry Giglio and Chris Giglio of Grubb & Ellis’ Anaheim office represented the buyer.
The buyer felt that the timing was right to diversify into the office market, Randall said.
West Millennium is primarily a builder of condominiums, lofts and homes in Los Angeles. It plans to enter the OC market soon.
It has two condo projects on tap near its new office property, with about 650 homes planned for the Platinum Triangle in Anaheim.
