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Monday, Apr 20, 2026

Real Estate Watch: Research & Development



By JUSTIN HILL

Research and development space still is in high demand by Orange County businesses.

During the second quarter, we saw vacancy rates decline to 4% countywide with more than 155,000 square feet of R & D; space being leased.

A majority of the space taken was in North and West County, where there are many R & D; users looking to expand and/or begin their business without having to pay the high rents of the John Wayne Airport area and South County.

The airport area and South County make up the majority of R & D; space with more than 25 million square feet.

Both of these markets have low vacancy levels, newer buildings and higher rents than in West and North County.

Because of the undying demand for space, more R & D; buildings are being built in the airport area. There is 97,360 square feet of R & D; space under construction in and around Irvine.

A large majority of the space is being built in two different projects, one in Fountain Valley and the other in Tustin.

The project in Fountain Valley consists of three buildings, two of which already have been leased. The project in Tustin still is available for lease.

With vacancy rates down 30% in R & D; space from where they were a year ago,and lease rates averaging 84 cents per square foot,it looks like the market for R & D; space will continue to be tight, with more demand than space in OC.

Hill is an Associate in the Anaheim office of CB Richard Ellis.

The Real Estate Watch Chart – Net Absorption, Rates, etc. is provided in a Adobe Reader .pdf print-friendly file.



CLICK HERE


to download

REAL ESTATE WATCH CHARTS

Please note: to download the file, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. For a free copy of the software,

click here.





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