The Irvine office of Phoenix-based Opus West Group has started work on a $21 million, 130,000-square-foot Brea office building.
The project, the second phase of the Fairway Center east of the Orange (57) Freeway, is being built on speculation.
Even with a slow economy and rising vacancies across Orange County, real estate sources say Fairway Center II has sparked interest from potential corporate and institutional tenants.
“We’re looking for a minimum size range,” said Vicki Gonzalez, a marketing specialist with CB Richard Ellis Services Inc.’s Anaheim office. “We envision a corporate user who will take up the whole building or a significant portion of it.”
Opus West, which is developing the project along with Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc., also is hoping to appeal to some of Fairway Center’s neighbors, such as ChevronTexaco Corp. or Merrill Lynch & Co., Gonzalez said.
“Any office product coming out of the ground on spec should be considered aggressive,” said Jerry Holdner, vice president of market research at Voit Commercial Brokerage’s Anaheim Metro Office. “Especially considering market conditions and the aftermath of Sept. 11.”
And there’s plenty of space available in North County as it is. The area’s vacancy rate is 14.1%, compared to 13% for all of OC, according to Voit.
But what Opus is betting on is demand for class A office space. North County counts just 4.5 million of the county’s 51 million square feet of top office space, according to Voit.
“With the right product, you feel good about filling up class A space in North County,” Holdner said.
Fairway Center II is set to join two other class A projects built in Brea in the past 18 months: the 82,000-square-foot, four-story Olen Pointe Brea, completed in March 2000, and the six-story, 120,000-square-foot Brea Corporate Plaza, completed in June.
Structural steel already has “topped out” on Fairway Center II, according to Gene W. Fuller, vice president of investment management for Lend Lease Real Estate, part of Chicago-based Lend Lease Corp.
Opus West Construction Corp. is building the project with completion set for May.
Mark Friend of the Anaheim office of CB Richard Ellis is marketing the project, which is designed by Clarkewerks Architecture of Yorba Linda.
Fairway Center II’s design calls for a two-story lobby and 45,000-square-foot floor plates on a landscaped campus about a mile east of Brea Mall.
Once the second phase is completed, Fairway Center is set to include nearly 300,000 square feet of class A office space. The existing Fairway Center building, built in 1987, is 100% leased. Tenants include CNA Insurance, 21st Century Insurance Group, California Federal Bank and Campbell Motel Properties. n
