Parker Properties LLC is looking to go out with a bang for the final phase of development at its signature Summit Office Campus in Aliso Viejo.
The real estate developer and manager has begun marketing plans for a 220,000-square-foot office development for a 5-acre site it owns at the intersection of Aliso Viejo Parkway and Enterprise Drive.
The two-building project will be the seventh and final phase of development at the campus, which runs just off the San Joaquin Hills (73) Toll Road and now totals about 1.7 million square feet of office space, plus the Renaissance Hotel and Club Sport.
Conceptual plans for the new development show a project that would be Orange County’s largest example of creative office space, the growing trend of building offices to accommodate a younger generation of workers.
The project aims to offer its share of uniqueness, in addition to plenty of collaborative space, exposed ceilings, environmentally friendly design, outdoor work space and other features becoming more common in buildings in the region looking to tap the creative-office trend.
Plans being considered for the project include a restaurant on one of the two building’s roofs and a garden on the other building’s roof. A bike center, craft brewery, coffeehouse and other retailers also are under consideration.
Construction of the project is tentatively expected to cost about $60 million.
The goal is to offer a sense of community for employees during the week and something that’s family friendly on weekends and active at night, according to Russ Parker, the company’s vice chairman.
The developer is marketing the planned project—believed to be the largest office development actively in the works in South OC—as the “next great workplace.”
“We’re trying to turn Aliso Viejo into a little more iconic place,” Parker said.
He said he project’s current design draws inspiration from unique office spaces in markets such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.
The extent of cutting edge-features and the development’s ultimate cost will depend on the tenants Parker Properties lands for the site.
The company plans to prelease at least 100,000 square feet before moving ahead with construction and would prefer to have closer to 150,000 square feet committed before breaking ground. It’s announced no lease deals yet.
The proposed buildings could also be developed on a build-to-suit basis if a company wanted to buy the offices for its own use, Parker said.
Medical, technology and apparel companies are among the industries being targeted as potential tenants.
Other large office tenants already at the Summit include Qlogic Corp., Microsemi Corp. and Bausch & Lomb.
The phase of the project shouldn’t take long to build once tenants are in place, Parker said.
“We’ve been approved (at the site) for seven years,” he said. “It would probably be the fastest build-to-suit in Southern California.”
The Summit’s last phase of development, the nine-story, 220,000-square-foot building next to the 73 Toll Road that was built for Pacific Life Insurance Co. of Newport Beach, took only 13 months to build, according to Parker.
The final phase would sit next to the Pac-Life building, which opened in 2008, around the same time as the Summit’s 20 and 30 Enterprise, a pair of office buildings that total about 260,000 square feet, and Renaissance ClubSport, a combination boutique hotel and sports club.
Current plans for the last phase of development at the Summit call for a six-story, 170,000-square-foot office tower to be connected to another four-story office that runs 33,000 square feet, plus about 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The first building at the Summit, a 120,000-square-foot office at 1 Enterprise now occupied by Microsemi Corporation, was built in the mid-1990s.
Despite the relative newness of the campus compared to much of OC’s office market, the Summit has seen its share of tweaks in terms of user amenities and features over its build-out.
“Offices have changed a lot in the last 15 years,” said Parker, who runs the company along with Lee Redmond.
The current emphasis on creative office space has staying power, he said, and Parker Properties is looking at using some of the design features it plans for the last Summit development phase for a few other locations, including in OC.
Parker said the company also plans to carry on its fee-management business for other institutional property owners.
