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June 16, 2014
Mission Viejo Gets Its Groove Back
Mission Viejo is one of OC's up-and-coming office markets. (If you get in there now, you'll be able to say you liked it before it was cool.) Avison Young principal Alan Pekarcik tells us why.
The Orange County office market has bounced back, sustained by payrolls that are almost back to pre-recession levels. As one of south Orange County's strongest submarkets, Mission Viejo will benefit, says Alan (right, with colleague Dan Vittone). It offers a diverse mix of residential choices as well as professional jobs that fuel the office market. And the convenience of working close to where you live is a plus for recruiting employees, making office investments in the area promising over the long term. (It's harder to blame traffic when you walk to work, but we're sure creative employees can find new and exciting excuses.)
Dan says the market's got high barriers to entry for new development, a dense population, and strong income demographics. Recently Alan and Dan, along with Voit Real Estate Services Trent Walker, repped the seller of HighPark Corporate Center, a 37k SF office building at 23351-23361 Madero in Mission Viejo, to CK HighPark LLC, which was repped by Bratun Real Estate. The property is 93% occupied by four tenants. (Something to think about: No matter which company fills that last 7%, it'll mean an odd total, thus a bye week in all inter-office tournaments.)
Get More Creative, OC
OC isn't yet known for its creative office, but it's coming, according to Buchanan Street Partner's Matt Haugen, who leads his company's WorkScapes project—a creative office space property. He tells us a true creative office campus offers a sense of community between the tenants so that they feel integrated within a building, rather than isolated down a corridor. Last month, Buchanan closed on the six-building WorkScapes at 20321-20371 Irvine Ave in Newport Beach, and Matt says the company plans capital improvements to bring it up to snuff as creative office space.
“We believe true creative office space must have certain elements,” Matt tells us: exposed building materials such as steel and wood beams, elevated ceilings with rigid ducting for the HVAC, significant exposure to natural light, creative elements of graphical design and lighting, and indoor and outdoor common areas for collaboration.” Business is brisk enough in OC to spur Buchanan to hire everyone pictured last month, including Chris Herthel (left, seated), who will be an SVP in the Newport Beach office.
According to CBRE's Ted Snell, OC is underserved by creative office space, with users looking for open floor-plan environments and useable outdoor spaces. (Every great 21st-century company must be equipped for a lunchtime game of ultimate frisbee.) Last week, the City of Tustin picked CBRE as listing advisor for the 43-acre Cornerstone at Tustin Legacy, which is the redevelopment of the Marine base formerly on the site. Ted, along with colleagues Chris Bates and Eric Snell, says the project will be marketed to creative office and R&D users, such as those in the tech, software, and hardware industries; health services, bio-med, medical apparatus and pharmaceuticals; and active apparel design.
Tech Talk at Lusk
At last week's Orange County Executive Forum, hosted by the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate and Allen Matkins, panelists said new technology—which commercial real estate hasn't always been keen to adopt—is one of the industry's most important assets. Panelists included: Allen Matkins' Gary McKitterick, Standard Pacific Homes Scott Stowell, IBA Realty's Phillip Belling, Western National Group's Michael Hayde, and Donahue Schriber's Patrick Donahue.
This photo was taken after David Copperfield made the whole panel disappear. (Magic is the original technology.) Tech can help tracking and measuring leads, and reducing expenses. In the retail world, Patrick deemed online sales not a mortal threat to brick-and-mortar shops, since it can only offer so much in the way of experiential retail and customer service. Snapped: Lusk Center director Richard Green.
YOU TELL US: Should Real Estate Drones Be Regulated?
While the FAA has yet to decide how to regulate drones for commercial use, the remote-controlled, unmanned aerial vehicles are already being put to work in commercial real estate. Developers and construction managers are using them to keep track of a development's progress, while owners and brokers are using them to show space from an entirely new perspective. While many folks in the industry are embracing the new technology, it's also been met with some reservations, with naysayers citing “huge invasions of privacy” and safety concerns. Should regulations be put in place for drone use in commercial real estate? Read our story in Real Estate Bisnow National and tell us your thoughts by clicking the survey to the left.
An OC Student Dreams of NYC
Congrats to Alan Ong, a high school senior from Laguna Niguel and winner of JLL's first “Design Your Skyline” contest. Alan, a senior enrolled at Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana, created “Metropolis” for the contest, which asked for artistic renditions of skylines across the country. Though a SoCal resident most of his young life, Alan clearly left his heart in New York City, where he lived when he was very young.
Greta Garbo dreamed one night she sprinkled six boxes of grass seed in her hair, and woke up moaning: "I vant to be a lawn!" Send ideas, suggestions, and bad movie star puns to dees.stribling@bisnow.com
