Nonprofit Expands HQ in Orange County, Calif.

A nonprofit focused on assisting people with developmental disabilities has renewed and expanded its headquarters space in what is reportedly the biggest office deal so far this year in Orange County, Calif. 

The Regional Center of Orange County inked a 102,631-square-foot lease at Greenlaw Partners’ Tustin Centre complex in Santa Ana. The majority of that space, 82,042 square feet, is a renewal for the nonprofit’s current space at Tustin Centre II, at 1525 North Tustin Avenue. The additional 20,589 square feet is an office expansion next door at Tustin Centre I, at 1551 North Tustin Avenue. 

HRS Commercial Advisory represented the tenant in the deal, according to the Orange County Business Journal, which first reported the news. The deal is the largest office lease signed in Orange County so far this year, per the OCBJ. 

“The lease was a huge success for the Regional Center, allowing them to gain more space and stabilize their occupancy,” Kyle Sherburne, HRS vice president, told Commercial Observer via email.

Representatives for Regional Center of Orange County and Greenlaw Partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

The Regional Center of Orange County, which is funded by the state, is the sole tenant of Tustin Centre II, taking all four floors of the 2009-built property. Other tenants at the 10-story Tustin Centre I include California Work Injury Law Center, A-L Financial and Orange Coast Title of Southern California. 

Greenlaw Partners, an Irvine-based development and investment firm, paid about $80.3 million for the twin properties in late 2016. In the early 2000s, Greenlaw had previously owned Tustin Centre I, which was built in the early 1990s, but the property and its sister building traded hands multiple times in the intervening years before Greenlaw brought them back under its wing. 

Santa Ana contains the third largest office market in Orange County with nearly 10.4 million square feet of space, trailing only Irvine and Newport Beach. The city’s office fundamentals have seen better days, however. Office vacancy in Santa Ana hit 17.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to a recent market report by CBRE, several notches ahead of the county’s average of 15.3 percent and 40 basis points higher than Santa Ana’s office vacancy at the end of 2024. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.