Los Angeles – Aug. 12, 2016 – Nearly 32 percent of the 3.8 million square feet of new offices space under construction in Orange County is dubbed creative, according to the latest research by CBRE Group, Inc. An additional 528,200 square feet under development will have creative aspects, according to the report.
Major projects in the area include Hines’ Intersect Campus, Trammell Crow’s The Boardwalk and Bespoke Irvine, being developed by Harbor Associates. All of these developments are in the Greater Airport Area or Irvine Spectrum. The projects range in size from 38,000 square feet to 537,000 square feet, showcasing the various bets developers are making in regards to the size of creative tenants in the OC market, according to Maximilian Saia, senior research analyst at CBRE.
Creative office is playing an increasingly important part in attracting and retaining talent as a smaller labor pool means more competition for talent. The unemployment rate in Orange County has dropped to 4.4 percent, a percentage point below the state-wide average.
“Orange County isn’t a market known for having a lot of creative office product,” said Saia. “But workplace strategy is increasingly important as companies are pursuing the best possible spaces in order to attract and retain talent.”
The demand for creative space has also been buoyed as the county’s office sector has diversified with the emergence of the technology sector, away from its original heavy focus on finance.
“Demand for creative space has taken a while to pick up but now it is always a topic of conversation among tenants,” said Simon Dillon, first vice president with CBRE in Newport Beach. “Traditional and progressive office users alike are all looking for creative space.”
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2015 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.
