Orange County Signs 70K-SF Office Lease in Santa Ana, Calif.
By Nick Trombola February 13, 2024 11:24 am
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Officials for California’s Orange County have signed a large new lease in Santa Ana, landlords Drawbridge Realty announced Monday.
The county in late December signed the 15-year, 70,000-square-foot lease at 1700 East St. Andrew Place, which is one block west of California State Route 55, though the lease price was not disclosed. JLL (JLL) represented Orange County in the deal, while CBRE (CBRE) represented Drawbridge.
“We look forward to welcoming the county this summer following the completion of interior improvements to customize the space for their particular needs,” Mike Embree, Drawbridge’s managing director and senior vice president, said in a statement.
San Francisco-based Drawbridge Realty specializes in long-term leases of office and research properties to large corporations. Orange County’s lease brought Drawbridge’s portfolio-wide leasing activity to just below 570,000 square feet last year, according to the firm.
Leasing activity in Orange County was on the mend late last year after a difficult few years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, though it still lags behind pre-pandemic levels. Activity in the last quarter of 2023 grew by 10 percent compared to the previous quarter, though leasing still displayed a nearly 3 percent decline year-over-year and remained below the five-year annual average, according to a recent market report from JLL.
One notable transaction in the county was Optima Tax Relief’s signing in November of a 40-month, 38,000-square-foot lease at Griffin Towers in Santa Ana. A joint venture between Barker Pacific Group and Kingsbarn Realty Capital owns the towers, though did not disclose the financial terms of the lease.
Nick Trombola can be reached at NTrombola@commercialobserver.com.
