South OC Becomes the ‘Downtown’ for Office

George Thomson

South Orange County is quickly becoming the ‘Downtown’ of the Orange County office market—stealing the title from the Airport Area. South County has seen migration from other popular office markets, namely the Airport Area, and in the first quarter, the submarket led office absorption in Orange County, logging 864,000 square feet, according to the first quarter report from Newmark Knight Frank. Broadcom’s 660,000-square-foot lease at Five Point Gateway in Irvine accounted for the majority of the leasing activity, while class-B renovations helped fuel rent growth—making the market the most expensive in Orange County. To find out more about the South County market, we sat down with George Thompson, senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, for an exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: What is driving activity in the South Orange County market to the extent that it has become a leader in the office market?