Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp., the largest restaurant chain operator based in Orange County, has signed a deal to move its headquarters from the John Wayne Airport area to the Irvine Spectrum.
The fast food company, part of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., signed a 10-year lease for about two-thirds of the space at One Premier Place, a two-building center that faces the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway near Alton Parkway.
The high-profile buildings, which total roughly 300,000 square feet, have served as the West Coast headquarters for Ford Motor Co. since their construction in 2001 at a cost of about $68 million.
Taco Bell’s lease is for 181,000 square feet, which makes it one of the largest office deals to be signed in OC in several years.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Taco Bell will be moving into the space in early 2010. The offices should hold about 600 employees, officials said.
The One Premier Place buildings are owned by Ford. During the past year, the automaker has seen a number of big changes that have drastically shrunk its local operations.
The Irvine site had been the U.S. headquarters for Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, which was made up of the automaker’s European brands.
Ford has sold off most of Premier’s brands. Volvo, the remaining piece, is relocating its U.S. headquarters to New Jersey.
Ford is keeping what’s left of its local operations in 90,000 square feet at the complex. Ford officials said the company remains committed to keeping a presence in OC.
About 125 employees at Ford will remain at the site, and those departments which are remaining in Irvine are not downsizing, said John Clinard, Western regional communications manager for Ford.
One Premier Place includes an 181,000-square-foot office tower and a 90,000-square-foot product development wing.
Taco Bell is taking up the entire five-story office tower. Ford’s Western headquarters staff and design group will be housed in the product development wing, which will be reconfigured.
The fast food company has long operated out of 17901 Von Karman Ave., a 12-story tower next to the San Diego (I-405) Freeway that bears the Taco Bell name, as well as an adjacent building.
For more on this story, see the Nov. 10 edition of the Business Journal.
