Office
The Orange County office market has been growing strongly in 2000. To date, more than 3 million square feet have been added to the office market, and nearly half that space was completed during the third quarter. The first high-rise building delivered since the third quarter of 1999 was completed in July, adding 230,000 square feet in Irvine. The remaining construction completed during the third quarter of this year consisted of low-rise class A and B buildings spread the Greater Airport Area and South Orange County. As of the end of the third quarter, another 4.6 million square feet of development were under construction, including one project in North Orange County, two in Central Orange County and one in the West Orange County market.
Industrial
Although the supply of buildable, entitled land has been low in Orange County for quite some time, industrial construction activity has remained fairly strong. To date, approximately 1.2 million square feet have been added to the industrial base since the beginning of the year. At the end of the quarter, approximately 2.4 million square feet were under construction in the Orange County market. North Orange County accounted for most of this construction, with 14 manufacturing and warehouse-type buildings in the development stage, totaling 910,286 square feet. The remaining 1.3 million square feet of M & W; construction were divided among the West, Airport Area and South Orange County markets. Research and development-type construction under way totaled 98,075 square feet and was concentrated in Garden Grove in West Orange County and San Clemente in South Orange County.
Retail
So far this year, the Orange County retail base has grown by more than 1.3 million square feet due to the completion of seven new centers, including a 310,000-square-foot power center completed in South Orange County during the third quarter. New construction activity slowed as one new specialty center in Central Coast broke ground this quarter; it will add 180,000 square feet to the retail market upon completion. Combined with the five other centers already under development, a total of 1.5 million square feet is on line to be added to the Orange County retail base.
