FOOTHILL RANCH, CA-Online lending service LoanDepot.com has signed a lease for 82,835 square feet of office space for its new headquarters at Los Angeles-based Arden Realty's Towne Centre Plaza III at 26642 and 26672 Towne Center Dr. The on-line mortgage company will occupy two of the three buildings at the office campus, amounting to 40% of the space in the project. The deal is a five-year lease with two five-year options to renew.

LoanDepot CEO Anthony Hsieh commented regarding the lease, “LoanDepot has experienced tremendous growth over the past 16 months. This move reflects our dedication to continued growth and reinforces our strategic plan to become one of the largest mortgage originators in the country.”

Towne Centre Plaza III fronts the SR-241 Foothill Transportation Corridor,with access to the 5 and 91 Freeways. John Gillespie of Newport Commercial Real Estate Advisors represented the tenant in the transaction, and Don Nourse of CBRE teamed with Arden’s VP of leasing, Derric Dubourdieu, to represent Arden.

The lease is considered the largest transaction of its kind in Orange County’s Foothill Ranch market in the past 12 months and reflects the improved momentum in Orange County’s overall net absorption, according to an Arden announcement regarding the deal. Members of LoanDepot’s executive management team have led the industry for over 25 years and launched and built two start-ups that merged with prominent publicly traded companies. Both companies, E*TRADE Mortgage and LendingTree Loans are still in operation today. LoanDepot.com was founded in 2009, has funded over a $1.5 billion in loans since January of 2010 and employs over 500 workers.