There continues to be a number of office lease deals struck for the county’s top legal firms.
Latham & Watkins LLP is the biggest name of late to ink a deal. The county’s fourth largest law firm just signed a lease for additional space at the Offices of South Coast Plaza’s Center Tower. The deal is for 13,369 square feet, and runs eight years.
That brings the total amount of space Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins leases at Center Tower up to four floors, or 88,296 square feet, according to Andrew Stinson, marketing director for the Offices of South Coast Plaza, which is run by C.J. Segerstrom & Sons.
The law firm, which focuses on corporate finance and business litigation, counts about 85 attorneys here, up about 10% from a year ago, according to the latest Business Journal figures.
A colleague of mine, Sarah Tolkoff, wrote about another deal last month. Los Angeles-based law firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP said it was opening an office in Costa Mesa. The firm is the 12th largest in L.A.
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Center Tower: law firm Latham & Watkins signed on for additional 13,369 square feet |
Gordon Schaller, a former associate at the local office of Greenberg Traurig LLP, is heading up the Costa Mesa office. It’ll be based at nearby Park Tower, also run by the Offices of South Coast Plaza.
Jeffer, Mangels’ long-term goal is to have about 50 lawyers based in Orange County. For now, the firm’s starting small. The initial lease at Park Tower is for 4,664 square feet.
Jim Travers, Jeff Mintz and Randall Parker of Newport Beach’s Travers Realty Corp. represented Jeffer, Mangels.
Nobel Renews
Nobel Biocare USA Inc., a unit of Sweden’s Nobel Biocare Holding AG, this month renewed the lease on its 122,000-square-foot North American headquarters in Yorba Linda.
The offices, at 22715 and 22725 Savi Ranch Parkway, are part of a portfolio of buildings acquired late last year for $187 million by the Shidler Group, a Honolulu-based commercial real estate owner.
In addition to offices, the company’s headquarters includes space used to train and educate dental surgeons. Nobel Biocare makes dental implants, which are placed in a patient’s jaw to support prosthetic teeth and dental bridges.
The lease renewal is for 10 years. Mark Sullivan and Joshua Gorin of Studley Inc.’s Los Angeles office represented Nobel Biocare. The Shidler Group was represented by Brigham Black in conjunction with Marc Jones of Arden Realty Inc., the property’s previous owner.
Trading Brokers
Voit Commercial Brokerage LP has beefed up its industrial presence at its Irvine office.
Brokers Michael Hartel, Kevin Turner, Joe Winkelmann and Travis Haining recently moved from Colliers International to the Irvine office of Voit.
The group has been active in industrial and research and development deals in the Spectrum area. Projects include the latest group of for-sale buildings just off Irvine Center Drive being developed by Newport Beach-based Koll Co.
Irvine homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp. has made some key changes to its national and local operations.
The company this month announced the creation of a new position, chief operating officer. The job is charged with managing the day-to-day operations of the company, and working directly with four regional presidents.
Taking on the role is Scott Stowell, a 21-year veteran of Standard Pacific.
For the past five years Stowell, 49, was president of the company’s Southern California region. Prior to that, he headed up its OC operations.
Stowell’s base salary increased to $750,000 from $365,000 with the promotion, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Todd Palmaer succeeds Stowell as Southern California regional president, which oversees six operating divisions.
He joined Standard Pacific as president of its San Diego division eight years ago. He moved to OC to become division president in 2002.
On the local front, Ted McKibbin has been named division president of OC. McKibbin had been vice president of project development for the past five years.
His experience includes management positions in land acquisition, project management, entitlement and land use planning. He also has experience in urban development.
