Tech giant Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) has renewed leases for a pair of buildings at its namesake campus in Irvine, marking the largest reported office lease in Orange County so far this year, according to brokerage data.
The company extended its lease for nearly 200,000 square feet of office space at 19510 and 19520 Jamboree Road, which are part of the five-building Google Center campus near the Irvine and Newport Beach city lines, according to a quarterly market report published by brokerage Savills, which has a local office in Newport Beach.
It was the largest office lease deal for this year’s third quarter in Orange County, according to the Savills report. Terms of the lease were not published in the report, but the Silicon Valley-based Google continues to occupy 196,238 square feet at two office buildings.
CoStar data shows Google as occupying 107,865 square feet at the four-floor, 108,696-square-foot 19510 Jamboree office building. Google also renewed its lease for the entirety of floors two through five, for 89,641 square feet, at the five-floor and 113,000-square-foot 19520 Jamboree building.
The lease renewal coincides with a recent Google all hands meeting, where executives with the tech giant’s parent company, Alphabet, told employees their hybrid two-day work from home policy would remain in effect for the foreseeable future, per multiple news reports.
Google also committed to a 1.1-million-square-foot industrial lease in Fort Worth, Texas earlier this month, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Google Center’s five buildings total nearly 573,000 square feet. Other recent deals at the complex include Canon USA, which last year took 75,000 square feet.
The multibuilding campus sold in 2016 for $255 million to an entity controlled by Jack Dangermond, the billionaire founder of digital mapping company ESRI.
The deal at the time was the most expensive reported office sale in Orange County since 2012, at an estimated price of nearly $445 per square foot.
Orange County Leasing Still Soft in 2024
Other large leases signed last quarter were JPMorgan Chase’s 155,600-square-foot renewal at 3 Park Plaza in Irvine, Pepperdine University’s 55,335-square-foot renewal at 18111 Von Karman Ave. in Irvine and Wells Fargo’s 52,598-square-foot renewal at 2020 Main St. in Irvine.
The overall leasing activity in Orange County, however, would “remain soft” for the remainder of 2024, per Savills.
“Overall, leasing activity increased to 1.9 million square feet, which is the highest reported quarter leasing activity post-pandemic,” the Savills report for the third quarter of 2024 said. “However, with new leasing activity remaining sluggish, underperforming office projects are being earmarked for conversion to non-office use.”
The Savills report specifically cited an office campus at 3100-3120 Lake Center Drive in Santa Ana being converted into an industrial park and a 12-floor office tower at 2700 N. Main St. – also in Santa Ana – could become a multifamily building.
Analysts with JLL also said office buildings in Orange County are being targeted for conversion.
