The Irvine Company is starting small with its first batch of leases at 20-40 Pacifica, the twin 15-story office towers it’s building in the Irvine Spectrum.
The county’s biggest landlord signed the first two leases for 20 Pacifica, totaling close to 11,000 square feet, earlier this month. Two law firms already based in Irvine, Spectrum Law Offices LLC and Wroten & Associates Inc., are the tenants.
The Irvine Co. still has a ways to go to fill up the two buildings, which once completed will total about 624,000 square feet of space. 20 Pacifica is set to open this fall, while 40 Pacifica will open in mid-2008.
Spectrum Law, which is focused on business and real estate litigation, was the first tenant signed for the towers going up next to the San Diego (I-405) Freeway. It’s also set to be the first tenant to move in.
The firm, which counts about 10 lawyers, is looking to move into about 4,000 square feet of space in late September or early October, according to managing partner Brad Garber.
Spectrum Law has been a longtime Irvine Co. tenant.
It’s been based at the company’s Jamboree Center complex near John Wayne Airport since 1991. It was one of the first tenants signed for that complex, too.
Randall Parker and Steven Card of Newport Beach-based Travers Realty represented Spectrum Law in the latest lease.
Wroten & Associates counts six lawyers, according to its Web site. Its practice focuses on nursing homes and healthcare malpractice. The firm will be leasing 6,842 square feet of space in a five-year deal.
Wroten, whose lawyers all are women, is set to move from a nearby Spectrum office to 20 Pacifica in February. David Romero and Troy Wooton of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. in Newport Beach represented Wroten.
Hoping for Bigger Deals
The two leases are a start to filling the towers. But they’re not the big deals the Irvine Co. had hoped for when it first began looking for tenants.
The company made a big push to land Rutan & Tucker LLP, the county’s largest law firm, as a key tenant for the buildings late last year. Chairman Donald Bren took part in the negotiations.
Rutan & Tucker, which counts about 150 lawyers, ultimately decided to stay put and expand at its current Costa Mesa location, Maguire Properties Inc.’s 611 Anton Blvd. office. The firm’s lease there, for 112,000 square feet of space, runs for about 15 years.
20-40 Pacifica is among several local office projects that will open far less than fully leased. Less than a quarter of the nearly 2 million square feet of office tower space going up or completed in Irvine is spoken for.
Deal in Works
The Irvine Co. is said to be close to signing another tenant to take about a full floor of space at 20-40 Pacifica, according to broker sources.
For the most part, the company and other developers will likely fill their buildings through numerous 5,000- to 10,000-square-foot deals, rather than larger leases for several floors.
Brokers representing tenants say leasing likely will be slow through the rest of the year and possibly 2008 as well.
