Irvine Co. could begin construction on a nine-building office complex in the Irvine Spectrum as soon as April, according to representatives of the Newport Beach-based developer and real estate owner.
The Spectrum Terrace speculative office development would consist of four-story buildings totaling a little more than 1 million square feet, plus amenity space of about 30,000 square feet.
Irvine Co. would build the complex in phases “as market demands,” Vice President Jeff Davis told Irvine’s city council last week.
The site, just south of the San Diego (405) Freeway next to Laguna Canyon Road, has been getting some grading work in recent weeks.
“We’re moving forward,” said Davis, who handles entitlement work for the developer.
The site is on undeveloped land between the Quail Hill and Laguna Altura residential communities.
The combined square footage of the nine-building complex would be roughly the same as the soon-to-open Five Point Gateway, a four-building office project that’s part of the Great Park Neighborhoods development in Irvine, about two miles away.
Five Point Gateway is the largest office complex built in Orange County in over a decade.
Broadcom Ltd. will lease two of the project’s four buildings, while homebuilder Lennar Corp. and the new complex owner, Five Point Communities are also occupying space there.
Development plans have been in the works for some time. The land was approved for its currently proposed level of office development 17 years ago, according to city officials.
A few years ago, when Irvine Co. was courting Broadcom as a tenant at the site, the developer looked to increase entitlements there to 1.6 million square feet in order to accommodate the chipmaker’s needs.
The plan didn’t move forward, and Broadcom instead opted for the Great Park Neighborhoods site.
The Irvine Co. land could still be used by a single large user.
It was part of the city’s recent pitch to Amazon as a potential site for a portion of the e-commerce giant’s planned second headquarters campus. Renderings that were part of its bid showed the Spectrum Terrace buildings with Amazon’s logo on them.
Seattle-based Amazon is expected to make a choice for its HQ2 sometime next year; it’s gotten more than 200 bids from locations across North America.
The Irvine Co. land has been used the past few years for the Cavalia equestrian show, which featured what promoters described as “the world’s largest touring tent.”
Spec Success
There’s been no shortage of recent office development in the Spectrum area.
In the past two years, Irvine Co. has built two 21-story towers next to its Spectrum shopping center, plus a series of midrise offices on Sand Canyon Avenue, some of which are still under construction.
The projects total nearly 1.4 million square feet, a large portion of the buildings already being spoken for.
Last month, the Business Journal was the first to report on Vyaire Medical Inc., a Chicago-based firm whose local operations are now in Yorba Linda, inking a 185,000-square-foot lease at Irvine Co.’s Quad at Discovery Business Center, a four-building project going up on Sand Canyon Avenue next to the Santa Ana (5) Freeway.
Quad is now 50% preleased and is scheduled to open next summer.
Irvine Co.’s 21-story 400 Spectrum Center, which opened two months ago, is nearly 50% preleased, and its sister building, 200 Spectrum Center, opened last year and is 99% full.
