Orange County marked a 3.5% increase in office-using jobs through the second quarter, compared with a year earlier, and the local high-rise office market benefited with four significant lease signings.
Corinthian Colleges Inc. in Santa Ana renewed its office lease at Griffin Towers for about 173,000 square feet.
Other Leases
Allergan Inc. signed a 60,000-square-foot lease at 2600 Michelson in Irvine. CashCall Inc. added 125,000 square feet at City Plaza Tower in Orange.
And Pacific Trust Bank inked a deal with Newport Beach-based Irvine Company for 41,000 square feet at Irvine Towers in Irvine.
The strength of high-rise office tenants, along with an ongoing “flight-to-quality” trend, led to an almost 1% drop in vacancy rates among high-rise buildings across all OC submarkets, bringing down from the first quarter’s rate of 16.9% to 16%.
Falling vacancies translated to an increase in asking rents for the first time in more than two years—up 1 cent from the first quarter to $2.11 per square foot.
Trends
Two additional trends witnessed in the first half of 2012 also point to a market recovery: an uptick in lease activity among small- to midsize companies and the signing of longer-term leases by larger companies.
Both trends are crucial to the steady recovery of the local high-rise office market.
Kenny is a first vice president in the Newport Beach office of CBRE Group Inc.
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