Irvine Company Sees Uptick in Office Leases Across State

California’s largest office landlord saw its leasing levels bump up slightly last year.

The Irvine Company, based in Newport Beach, leased more than 10 million square feet of offices to more than 900 companies in its four state markets of Orange County, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and San Diego, the Orange County Business Journal reported.

That’s slightly ahead of 2021, when it inked just under 10 million square feet of offices to 1,000 firms.

Most of the newer leases occurred in OC, Irvine Company’s biggest market. The company owns 53 million square feet of offices in more than 560 buildings statewide.

“We are seeing continued demand for premium office space with exceptional amenities,” Jonathan Brinsden, president of the company’s Office Properties division, told the Business Journal

It’s a sign that new and high-end office properties have outperformed during the troubled office market of the past three years, according to the newspaper. The final quarter of last year, however, slowed.

At the Irvine Company’s Innovation Office Park and Spectrum Terrace, office leasing softened during the fourth quarter “as the market continued to struggle with changes in the workplace that resulted from the pandemic,” according to a market report by Voit Real Estate Services.

Vacancy rates in OC rose to 14.2 percent during the fourth quarter, according to Voit.

The prominent OC landlord leased a 115,290-square-foot building to Apple at its Spectrum Terrace in Irvine, in the largest OC deal of the quarter.

Its 1-million-square-foot Spectrum Terrace, which it completed last fall, is nearly 80 percent leased. Its 1.1-million-square-foot Innovation Office Park, which it finished last year, is more than 80 percent leased, according to the Business Journal.

The Irvine Company also pointed to demand for its flexible office option, or Flex+, which offers move-in ready workspaces with customizable floor plans and lease terms. The company signed more than 1.6 million square feet of Flex+ space to 390 companies during the past year.

— Dana Bartholomew