One of the larger South County office developments targeting smaller users officially opens its doors this week in San Juan Capistrano.
Developer Mammoth Equities LLC of Mission Viejo built the two-building, 105,745-square-foot project on the hills overlooking the San Diego (I-5) Freeway.
Mammoth Professional Office Park, originally expected to open earlier this year, is a bit of an anomaly these days.
Most local developers, including Guthrie Development Co. and BKM Development Co., both of Costa Mesa, and Newport Beach-based Werdin Corp., have opted to put up office buildings and sell space within them to small businesses.
Mammoth is looking to lease space to smaller businesses. No changes in strategy are likely, company officials said.
South County, which had a vacancy rate of 5.6% in the third quarter, is seeing a heavy dose of office construction.
There is more than 1.6 million square feet of commercial space going up in South County, according to the Newport Beach office of Grubb & Ellis Co. About 1.1 million square feet of the space is due to be done by the end of the year and in the first quarter.
Most of that space going up,including The Irvine Company’s Discovery Business Center in the Irvine Spectrum, Shea Properties’ Vantis in Aliso Viejo and Parker Properties LLC’s Summit Office campus expansion, also in Aliso Viejo,is aimed at bigger tenants.
Mammoth didn’t have to look far for its first tenant. The company is in the process of moving its headquarters from Mission Viejo to the two-story complex.
That partly explains the 22-foot tall, 35-foot long sculpture of a wooly mammoth in the center of the buildings.
The San Juan Capistrano project is divided into suites of two to 10 offices.
In all, about 17 tenants have signed on so far at Mammoth Professional Office Park, according to spokeswoman Amber Wish. Early tenants include information technology companies and real estate firms.
Mammoth, led by founder and Chairman Robert Wish, employs about 60 people. In addition to real estate development, the company also has construction, property management and tenant-in-common investment units.
The San Juan Capistrano project is Mammoth’s 10th office complex in Southern California, and its sixth in Orange County.
Mammoth owns about 520,000 square feet locally. About 292,000 square feet of that space is tied to a trio of office complexes it owns in Cypress, including two office parks bought for a combined $60 million last year.
The company also operates in Arizona, Nevada and Texas. It said it has about 10 projects set to break ground between now and May, including one in Corona, and another in Carlsbad.
