The partners expect to obtain entitlements for the three sites, which total approximately 40 acres, by the middle of this year. While leasing of office space in Southern California remains generally soft throughout the region, the two firms say they see demand for office space in the Valencia area, one of the fastest growing parts of the region, which is attracting new homes and retail projects as well as businesses seeking office and industrial space.

Two of the sites--The Commons and Town Center Corporate Park--are within Valencia Corporate Center, Newhall Land's 4,600-acre business and industrial park at Valencia Gateway is the single designation for six primary business sectors located adjacent to the Golden State (I-5) Freeway and State Highway 126. The third is at the intersection of I-5 and Highway 126 in an area called Gateway Corporate Point.

The partners say their alliance will cut the time from the signing of a build-to-suit agreement to the completion of a building. This traditionally takes about 18 to 24 months, but Newhall and Opus say they can cut that by half. Despite the development partnership with Opus, Newhall says, land parcels will still be available for other developers and users.

Newhall Land is a publicly held land owner community planner primarily involved in the planning of Valencia, which includes Valencia Gateway, part of Newhall's 36,000 acres 30 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles.

Opus West Corp. provides architecture, construction management, real estate development and property management in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. It has developed more than 30 million sf feet of office, industrial and retail space throughout the West. The company maintains Southern California offices in Irvine and Los Angeles.