Syspro, an international marketer of accounting, distribution and manufacturing software, is keeping George Argyros, one of Orange County’s wealthiest residents, as its landlord in Costa Mesa.
Syspro held a ribbon-cutting ceremony late last month at Costa Mesa’s Metro Pointe Business Center, where it recently renewed the lease for its U.S. headquarters.
Among those attending the event was Costs Mesa’s mayor, Allan Mansoor, as well as former Ambassador to Spain Argyros, whose Arnel & Affiliates owns Metro Pointe. The 52-acre site includes 300,000 square feet of offices, 300 apartments and a shopping center.
The new lease is an expansion for Syspro, which is leasing about 27,000 square feet of space at Metro Pointe. That makes it the second-largest tenant in the complex, behind Pacific Mercantile Bancorp.
Terms of the lease weren’t disclosed. Travis Boyd and Alex Hayden of the Irvine office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. represented the tenant. Arnel’s Mark Sanquist and Kevin Hauber handled the lease for the landlord.
Syspro’s been in OC for 22 years and in Metro Pointe for more than a decade. During that time, the company,which employs about 100 people locally,has never had a round of layoffs, said Joey Benadretti, president of Syspro’s U.S. operations. The company’s confident the current market will allow it to gain customers from downsizing competitors.
Amenities at the Metro Pointe location and strong service,such as the ability to get into the office at 2 a.m. without a hassle from the building’s security,were the reasons the company decided to stay put, said Benadretti.
“We could have gotten our name on top of 24 (high-rise) buildings” in the area, Benadretti said. Instead, “we chose a four-story building,” he said.
Benadretti laments that his privately held company may not get the attention that some of its peers get. Syspro competes against the likes of Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp. and Redwood City-based Oracle Corp., depending on the industry it is serving.
That could change if Syspro’s growth meets Benadretti’s goals of increasing sales by 100% during the next three years.
The Business Journal last year estimated Syspro had about $60 million in annual
revenue.
The growth plans appeared to catch the interest of Argyros, whose wealth comes from big investments in companies as well as real estate.
During a tour of Syspro’s revamped office space, Argyros sounded more like a prospective investor than the owner of the building, quizzing the company’s executives about its products, market reach and how Syspro stacked up to the competition.
City Manager Moving
The city of Westminster has hired Donald Lamm, Costa Mesa’s deputy city manager, as its new city manager.
He’ll be responsible for the city’s land planning, building construction and redevelopment efforts, among other duties.
Areas such as the city’s Little Saigon and Westminster Mall will be good targets for redevelopment, according to Lamm, who worked on the expansion of South Coast Plaza and development of Costa Mesa’s arts district while at his current position.
Lamm is succeeding the retiring Ray Silver in Westminster.
Gas Practice
Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. hired Timothy Haves as a vice president and director of its new petroleum services group.
The group will provide brokerage, appraisal and project management services to petroleum and other energy companies across the country that are seeking to buy or sell gas stations, plants, terminals and blending facilities.
Haves will be based in the Newport Beach office. He had been working in CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s local office.
RESIDENTIAL
The Hanover Co., a Houston-based developer of condominiums and apartments, just opened an apartment complex in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle.
The company, which also has a project under way on Kelvin Avenue in Irvine, last month unveiled 1818 Platinum Triangle, a 265-unit complex on the corner of State College and Katella Avenue.
The five-story project has one-bedroom apartments as big as 928 square feet and two-bedroom units as big as 1,328 square feet.
The Anaheim project includes a rooftop pool, among other amenities. Irvine-based KTGY Group Inc. was the architect for the project.
Monthly rents at the new complex aren’t cheap, based on what’s being advertised on various rental Web sites. You can expect to pay more than $2,300 for the larger one-bedroom units and $2,900 for the biggest two-bedroom apartments.
