Costa Mesa’s MetroCenter at South Coast office complex has been landing some good-sized leases as of late, though it looks like it’s in the market for a new anchor tenant.
Clark Construction Group LLC, a Bethesda, Md.-based construction company, just signed a 10-year lease for 13,680 square feet of office space at MetroCenter’s 575 Anton Blvd. The building is one of three 12-story towers at the center, owned by San Francisco-based RREEF Funds LLC.
Clark Construction will be moving its regional offices from Bristol Street just down the road. The move should take place in October.
Greg May and Oliver Fleener of Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Newport Beach office represented RREEF. Wendy Han and Royce Sharf of Studley Inc.’s Newport Beach office represented Clark Construction.
More than 40,000 square feet has been leased in the past two months in MetroCenter at South Coast. In June, we reported that Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart, an Orange-based law firm with about 30 attorneys, was moving its headquarters to the complex with a 23,000-square-foot lease.
But one big chunk of space at the complex could soon be coming back on the market. Quick Loan Funding Inc., the once highflying mortgage company led by rebel Chief Executive Daniel Sadek, closed its doors last month after its warehouse line of credit was pulled.
Quick Loan signed a lease for 80,572 square feet at the center in 2005, and has its name atop the 535 Anton Blvd. building.
Jones Lang Expands
Jones Lang LaSalle, the Chicago-based real estate money management and services company, has expansion plans for OC.
The company just moved to larger Newport Beach offices at The Irvine Company’s 4695 MacArthur Court. Jones Lang had been at the Irvine Co.’s Newport Gateway offices for the past 10 years.
The new office is a full-service shop, beyond just its core brokerage operations, Jones Lang officials said. It will house executives involved in tenant representation, sales, retail, corporate solutions, project and development services and leasing.
To that end, the company hired away two executives from area brokerages to lead up investment sales. Jon Nesbitt joined Jones Lang’s capital markets group as senior vice president, while Baker Morphy joined as vice president.
Nesbitt previously was a vice president at Grubb & Ellis Co., and Morphy comes from Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Pacific Gateway Sale
Long Beach’s Carlen Enterprises, a wholesaler of discount brand-name clothes, has a new distribution facility.
The company just paid $10 million for a 64,000-square-foot industrial building in Seal Beach.
The building is one of the new facilities built by Gardena-based Overton Moore Properties at its Pacific Gateway Business Center, the industrial development built on former Boeing Co. land.
Carlen is keeping its headquarters in Long Beach and moving its warehouse from Signal Hill to Seal Beach, said Bob Goodmanson, senior vice president in the Newport Beach office of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.
Goodmanson and CB Richard Ellis’ Brian DeRevere represented Overton Moore in the sale. Carlen was represented by NAI Capital’s Brian Luft.
Pacific Gateway is made up of 10 buildings, totaling about 830,000 square feet. Three buildings, which are being offered for lease, still are available, Goodmanson said.
Irvine Co. Departure
The Irvine Co. has seen another high-level executive depart, this time in its retail properties division.
Jerry Engen, a senior vice president of development for Irvine Co.’s retail unit, recently left the Newport Beach-based company. He had been with the company for more than six years, and was behind recent retail projects such as Orchard Hills Village Center.
Engen is joining privately held United Growth, and will head up development for the San Francisco-based retail developer. The company has an office in Irvine.
“This is an entrepreneurial opportunity that I cannot pass up at this point in my career,” Engen said in a memo to Irvine Co. employees.
Engen will “be charged with building an organization that will support an aggressive growth program and that will provide me with a strong financial upside,” his memo said.
United Growth’s Web site says it typically oversees 20 to 30 projects each year. Locally, it was behind the development of the Shops at Buena Park, a 40,000-square-foot center on the southwest corner of Beach Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue.
