Koll Development Co. has signed Motorola to a lease that virtually fills its recently completed Irvine Concourse office building, even as it demolishes an adjacent building to make way for a second eight-story tower.
Like its twin, Koll Center Irvine North Phase II, at 1901 Main St., is going up on spec. Company officials are confident that the demand for Class A space in the airport area will continue, and point to the 19,000-square-foot Motorola lease topping off phase I as one more piece of evidence.
“After substantially leasing Phase I just 14 months after beginning construction, we are looking forward to beginning development of Phase II,” said Nader Shah, Koll’s vice president of development.
Koll is not the only developer putting its faith in the demand for airport-area office space. Opus West also is planning to build a twin to its recently completed 12-story building in the Irvine Concourse. The Opus building was last reported to be about 60% leased. And up the road at MacArthur Place, crews have begun clearing 5.9 acres for a pair of nine-story towers to be built by Nexus Development.
Motorola signed a five-year lease valued at $3.2 million. In taking one of the building’s eight floors, Motorola will consolidate five groups now working in offices in Orange and Irvine into Koll Center Irvine North.
Dean Chandler and Jeff Morgan of CB Richard Ellis represented Motorola in the deal, and John Weiner of CB represented Koll.
The Motorola lease leaves only about 8,000 square feet still available in the 187,000-square-foot building, which opened late last year. Other tenants include Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble & Mallory LLP, Lyon & Lyon LLP, California Bank and Trust, and McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners.
Meanwhile, Koll last week began demolition of the 40,000-square-foot former Dellarobbia building at Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard, to make way for the second Koll Center Irvine North building. Designed by McLarand Vasquez, the Phase II office tower and five-story parking structure will occupy a 4.5-acre site acquired by Koll in 1998 for $5.5 million. Koll Construction is the general contractor.
Weiner and Morgan will market Phase II. n
