LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA—As growing retail sub-sectorsexpand, it's not unusual to see multiple bidders for the same spacein South Orange County, Colliers International'sVP Terrison Quinn tells GlobeSt.com. As wereported last week, Quinn and colleagueCasey Mahony represented owner BuieStoddard Group in lease negotiations for NordstromRack to open a seventh Orange County location this springafter signing a 10-year lease agreement at theCenter at Rancho Niguel, a retailcenter comprising more than four contiguous city blocks here.GlobeSt.com spoke with Quinn about trends he's seeing in retailleasing.

GlobeSt.com: You say you are seeing spaces that oncewere vacant for long stretches suddenly filling up with newtenants. What types of new tenants are filling thisspace?

Quinn: Any time we have a vacantrestaurant opportunity, we're seeing multiplebidders within weeks of initial marketing efforts. Back in therecession, it was rare to see a multiple-bidder situation, and nowwe're seeing more of that. Quick-serve restaurants are extremelyactive right now, and we're generally continuing to see heavyinterest from service uses, such as salons and health-relatedtenants, which are expanding aggressively. Rents are being drivenup significantly, up to if not higher than 2006 levels in someareas. Vacancy levels have decreased in the past 18 months or so,and in South Orange County there was a sub-5% vacancy factorwhereas in 2010 it was 7%.