There was no shortage of grand opening events in Orange County last year.
The area’s 29 largest commercial developers finished about 7.8 million square feet of projects in 2007.
Last year’s total is up more than 80% from 2006, and is the largest amount of new buildings seen here since 2001, when 7.8 million square feet was completed in the county.
Don’t expect a repeat of those lofty figures next year. The slowing economy has given developers pause about breaking ground.
The backlog of projects that are under way but not completed fell sharply from 13 million square feet in 2006 to 8.6 million square feet in 2007. That’s the lowest amount of projects in the works in more than five years.
Developers on this year’s list said they’ve broken ground on 20 projects in 2007,primarily small, for-sale industrial condominiums,compared to 42 a year ago.
The Business Journal’s list of local developers ranks companies based on square feet completed in OC in 2007. The list historically fluctuates from year to year, depending on when large projects are completed.
The list also includes several developers who have large projects in the works that weren’t completed in 2007, to better re-flect those companies’ activity in the market.
Last year saw plenty of notable buildings opening their doors. Four office towers were completed in the John Wayne Airport area, and another was finished in the Irvine Spectrum, adding nearly 1.7 million square feet of office space to the market.
While the five office towers opened up with a minimal amount of leasing activity, another 684,000-square-foot mid-rise campus in Irvine’s University Research Park built by The Irvine Company opened fully leased,it was built for chipmaker Broadcom Corp. as its new headquarters.
In Seal Beach, Gardena-based Over-ton Moore Properties, No. 3 on this year’s list, finished the majority of the largest industrial project seen in OC in years: the Pacific Gateway Business Center.
The multi-building project, a combination of for-sale and for-lease warehouses, added more than 830,000 square feet of space to a tight industrial market. The project’s already drawn a number of Los Angeles-based companies that are relocating to OC, including apparel maker Affliction LLC and electronic transaction company Magtek Inc.
Overton Moore’s project, built on land formerly owned by Boeing Corp., bucked the recent trend of industrial developers building smaller, for-sale properties for small businesses instead of massive multitenant parks.
Top Spots
Four of the top 10 companies on this year’s list continue to thrive in the for-sale office and industrial condo market, including No. 5 Burke Real Estate Group, No. 6 Bacchus Development, No. 7 BKM Development LLC and No. 10 Guthrie Development Co.
In Tustin, a new shopping center was finished on the site of the former Marine helicopter base, totaling more than 1.1 million square feet. The 111-acre District at Tustin Legacy was led by Phoenix-based Vestar Development Co., placing the company (which partnered with Kimco Realty Corp. on the project) at the No. 2 spot on the list.
The shopping center, which is set to draw 18 million visitors this year, includes a Target, Lowe’s, Whole Foods, Costco and an AMC movie complex.
The county’s biggest landlord, the Irvine Co., was also the No. 1 developer in 2007.
On the office front, the Newport Beach-based company completed work on the Broadcom campus, the 312,000-square-foot 20 Pacifica office tower in the Spectrum, the 18100 Von Karman tower in the airport area, and the three-building Jamboree Business Center, a low-rise project near the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway.
Also included in the Irvine Co.’s total is the 450,000-square-foot Woodbury Town Center, which announced its opening in January 2007.
The company’s totals should be much lower on next year’s list. Other than 40 Pacifica,the second Spectrum-area office tower that recently was completed,the Irvine Co. doesn’t have any projects larger than 50,000 square feet set to open this year.
After being off the top of the list for several years, office developers are prominent this time around.
No. 4 on the list is Maguire Properties Inc., which completed its 3161 Michelson tower last year. The 531,000-square-foot office,the biggest tower OC’s seen in years,is up for sale, along with the remainder of Maguire’s 105-acre Park Place campus in Irvine, the company said last week.
Maguire’s other office development, a 150,000-square-foot building at its Washington Mutual campus in Irvine, wasn’t completed until earlier this year, and will be included in next year’s list.
Other big office developers at the top of this year’s list include No. 8 Opus West Corp., No. 11 Hines Interest LP and No. 12 Parker Properties, which completed two buildings at its Summit Office campus in Aliso Viejo.
Next year’s list will include a few other Summit developments, including the recently opened 248,806-square-foot building built for Pacific Life Insurance Co., and the soon-to-open Renaissance ClubSport, being built by R.D. Olson Development.
