Merit Opens in Northern California; Shea Plans Active-Adult Project
COMMERCIAL
Sometimes a good thing is not too much. After spending the last few weeks compiling information on Orange County’s office and business parks (see the Special Report beginning on page 17), another office park story leads this column.
Rancho Santa Margarita’s Arbours Office Campus, a 125,000-square-foot office park being built by Investment Development Services and Newport Beach-based Jameson Real Estate Corp. at the corner of Santa Margarita Parkway and Avenida Empresa, began accepting tenants in Phase I of the development this month.
Phase I consists of six buildings, with the overall project standing on an 11-acre campus and containing 14 buildings. The buildings, available for sale or lease, range from 4,500 to 14,000 square feet.
DispenseSource Inc. relocated its headquarters from within Rancho Santa Margarita to Arbours Office Campus earlier this month. A provider of automated inventory management systems for office supplies and maintenance, repair and operations materials, DispenseSource signed a five-year, $1.6 million lease on a 12,984-square-foot office building within Phase I of the Arbours Office Campus.
Dave Smith and Adam Wicker of Grubb & Ellis’ Newport Beach office represented the tenant and the landlord, Arbours I LLC of Los Angeles.
Deals:
Drive Financial Services LP recently completed a relocation with its move from Tustin to 10801 Walker St. in Cypress. The financial group signed a five-year, $2.08 million lease agreement to occupy 26,721 square feet of office space. Stephen Pisarik of Colliers Seeley International Inc. represented Drive in the transaction, while Mark Friend of CB Richard Ellis represented the landlord, Buzz Oates Real Estate of Sacramento.
Meanwhile, Vesuki Inc., an aerospace manufacturer, purchased a 24,922-square-foot industrial site for $2.18 million. The facility at 1350 Lambert Road in Brea will house an expansion of the company’s industrial operations. Steve Crane of Lee & Associates-Orange represented Vesuki, and Jim deRegt of Lee & Associates Newport represented the seller, W.L. Butler Construction Inc.
RESIDENTIAL
Often, it’s the things in life we have in abundance that we take for granted. Take, for instance, sunshine. Being new to the area, longtime Orange County residents offer an apology to me,as if the sun were a controllable object,when it fails to shine for even a single daytime minute. That it shines as much as it does in the dead of winter is a fact that astounds me.
Another plentiful aspect of Orange County is found in its masterplanned communities. Having already staked its claim as a player within Orange County’s masterplanned communities, The Merit Cos. decided to expand its operations to other parts of California. The result? The opening of a Northern California regional office in San Ramon. Merit’s move into Northern California follows the opening of regional offices in San Diego, Temecula and Valencia.
“In Northern California, there’s a growing trend of masterplanned communities,” said E. Lesly Martin, a Merit spokeswoman. Due to the increased demand for masterplanned communities, “there’s a real need for professional property management for the growing homeowner associations,” Martin said.
Gaining entr & #233;e to the Northern California region appears a particular coup for the Mission Viejo-based company.
“The office in San Ramon will provide a base of operations for Merit’s employees who oversee community associations in this area and throughout Northern California,” said Melinda Masson, president and CEO of The Merit Companies.
The first project is a masterplanned community being developed in Tracy.
Founded in 1980, Merit oversees 180 community associations and more than 66,000 residential units, according to company reports.
New Homes for Older People
With continuing advancements made to medical technology, we’re faced with an aging population and we can’t exactly put them out to pasture. Or can we?
“Active adults, ranging from 55 to 74 years of age, account for about 20% of the 1 million home sales that take place across the nation each year,” according to reports from SheaHomes for Active Adults, a division of SheaHomes.
Citing these findings, SheaHomes plans to build a 1,300-home active adult community along the Cleveland National Forest near Glen Ivy. Named Trilogy at Glen Ivy, the first homes will go up for sale in February, with a construction schedule that aims for a summer completion date.
“We’re targeting primarily people within 20 miles of Irvine who want to remain close to family and friends in Los Angeles, Orange and western Riverside counties,” said Eric Snider, vice president of sales and marketing for SheaHomes for Active Adults.
The community includes a 187-acre, 18-hole golf course, an RV storage site and a technologically advanced community that is “wired for the future.” Although my parents, who fit into the Trilogy at Glen Ivy target market, have trouble programming the VCR or collecting their e-mail, the active adult community plans for “a Disney-like experience,” according to Snider.
Forty-eight-inch computer screens will allow residents to e-mail friends and family and to “negotiate group discounts on everything from bus tours to Caribbean cruises.”
