Newport Center is getting a run for its money as Orange County’s most expensive place for office space.
The Irvine Company is marketing space at 20-40 Pacifica,its twin office towers going up in the Irvine Spectrum,at monthly rates as high as $4.30 per square foot.
The cheapest space in the 15-story towers is listed at $3.60 per square foot a month, according to the company’s Web site.
The first of the towers is set for completion in late 2007.
The asking rates put the priciest floors at 20-40 Pacifica at levels comparable to the prestigious addresses at Newport Center, the cluster of office buildings surrounding Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
Space at Newport Center, owned partly by the Irvine Co. and home to the company’s headquarters, goes for as high as $4.50 per square foot.
“Irvine Spectrum has evolved into one of the most desirable and prestigious locations in Orange County to work, shop and play, offering many of the outstanding attributes of Newport Center,” Irvine Co. spokesman Bill Rams said.
The average rent for top office space in the county stood at $2.71 per square foot last quarter, according to Grubb & Ellis Co.
Brokers, including those who represent tenants seeking space, had expected average rents at 20-40 Pacifica at around $3.50 per square foot.
The higher rates signal that the county’s dominant landlord is bullish about the local economy, according to brokers.
“The Irvine Co. is a very unique animal, and they’re in a very unique position,” said Royce Sharf, branch manager for the Irvine office of Studley Inc., which represents tenants. “Ultimately, they have the right to charge what they think is appropriate, though not everyone on the tenant side is in consensus on where the office market is heading.”
Some tenants are holding out hope that rents will stabilize, or even decline, in the next year with several office towers going up and downsizing in the mortgage industry, Sharf said.
For more on this story, see the Aug. 21 edition of the Business Journal.
