Person to watch: DONALD KOLL
REAL ESTATE
SPECIAL REPORT
by Daniel D. Williams
Don Koll, one of Orange County’s most prominent developers, no longer is with the original company that bears his name. But don’t count him out of OC real estate.
Sources close to Koll said the 67-year-old developer is undeterred by sluggish economic forecasts and has several projects in various stages of planning. In the summer, Koll launched a new company with two former Koll Development Co. executives and a prominent local broker.
Koll is a principal in the new venture, dubbed The Koll Company. Joining him are: Jerry Yahr, the former president at Koll Development; Bryan McGowan, Koll Development’s former chief financial officer; and Alan Airth, the former managing director of Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Newport Beach office.
Since 1962, Koll has developed more than 72 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and entertainment space. In 1998, New York-based NorthStar Capital Investment Co. financed the Don Koll-led buyout of Koll Development. But the two had differences. Koll stepped down as chief executive in March.
Koll maintains an interest in Koll Development projects in Mexico and in the company’s building arm, Koll Construction Co. He has retained an office at 4343 Von Karman Ave., in Koll Center Newport, which also houses the corporate offices of Koll Development.
,Daniel D. Williams
Company to watch: EQUITY OFFICE PROPERTIES
REAL ESTATE
SPECIAL REPORT
Sam Zell’s Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust made a big move in Orange County with its buy of Menlo-based Spieker Properties Inc. earlier this year.
The deal gave Equity an OC portfolio of 37 buildings from Laguna Hills to Brea, spanning more than 6 million square feet of space. But the timing could have been better. 2002,Equity’s first full year in the top tier of OC landlords,stands to be a trying one.
“The whole model for landlords has changed,” said Bert Dezzutti, Equity’s senior vice president for the Los Angeles region, which encompasses Orange County. “It used to be ‘location, location.’ Now we have to look beyond traditional office space.”
But Equity’s plans don’t just call for owning buildings here. It wants to build them, too.
Last year, the company detailed plans to develop 1.16 million square feet of high-rise office space in The City/The Block area of Orange during the next 10 years. The project would be Equity’s first development in OC.
“We’re very bullish on Orange County in the long term,” Dezzutti said. “Orange County is a stable, dynamic market.”
For now, Equity is looking to weather the downturn. How well it does could serve as a barometer for other landlords.
In a recent Equity query of tenants’ needs, 94% identified “temporary office space” as a key desire, Dezzutti said. So Equity has set up what it calls FastOffice,furnished space with month-to-month leases.
,Daniel D. Williams
