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SANTA ANA, CA—The renaissance of Santa Ana that has taken place over the past several years is no accident and very explainable, Bob Duncan, Jr., CCIM, senior development partner with Caribou Industries, tells GlobeSt.com. Duncan spoke about the city's rebirth and his firm's upcoming development of the One Broadway Plaza vertical office campus here during RealShare Orange County last month. We chatted with Duncan more recently about what makes Santa Ana, home to his firm, the ideal place for a revitalization campaign in Orange County. In a later story, Duncan discusses the new project and what it will hold.

GlobeSt.com: How would you describe the renaissance that has taken place—and continues to take place—in Santa Ana?

Duncan: I believe it's a trend and an evolution that is inevitable, and it's happening all over the country over and over in major metropolitan areas. Orange County has been more or less a suburban-oriented market, but people forget that Santa Ana has all of the ingredients of a major urban metropolitan area. When you look at it in terms of five or six perspectives: entertainment and recreation, the foodie factor, age and density of population, transportation—there's only one place that has all of those and that's downtown Santa Ana. It's within a 5-mile radius of two professional sports team, a world-class medical complex, two world-class museums, golf courses, an artist's village and a foodie scene.

There are 10 Zagat-rated restaurants here, with eight more coming in the new farmer's market area off 4^th St. They're putting in all of the infrastructure for world-class chefs to rent spaces in three- to four-hour blocks—it's a tremendous food scene. The clubs don't close at 9:00 p.m. and are not in a strip center but in 100-year-old buildings. Original Mike's was the first horseless-carriage dealership in Orange County's history, and now the 15,000-square-foot space has been completely renovated after being abandoned and nearly destroyed. There's an entire city block of parking to this area. The fact that these are renovated historical buildings being brought back to life is a wonderful amenity. They've kept the same bricks and face, and it's happening all over the place—it's tough to do that on a street that's only 20 years old made of tilt-up concrete. Santa Ana is also one of the most diverse cities in California, and Millennials value diversity. 

This potential knowledge worker built their life around the Internet and a smartphone. They refuse to be held captive by a steering wheel and four tires. There are four or five areas in Southern California that have been revitalized like that. There's the Gaslamp District in San Diego—we have a tenant there who wouldn't have dreamt of locating there 20 years ago, but it's undergone a true transformation. There's L.A. Live, one of the most coveted, world-class high-rise facilities. The Colorado Corridor from Glendale to Pasadena was horrible and dangerous, but now it's vertical and beautiful. It's tough to have that without the transportation.

By 2035, more than 2.5 million square feet are going to move to the Inland Empire and Orange County, according to ULI. That's between three million and five million people by 2045. They cannot go to South County—it's unsustainable. The two places they can go are Anaheim and Santa Ana. Those are two of the oldest and largest cities in Orange County.

GlobeSt.com: Where do you see this renaissance leading for Santa Ana and the surrounding towns in Orange County?

Duncan: We already see it happening. There are several large residential projects underway in Santa Ana, and the instant cranes go in the sky for One Broadway Plaza, every piece of property will be affected in a very positive way. When Google purchased a building on the west side of Chicago to put a major office there, every single property in the area changed hands a couple of times. Many companies that want to be near that anchor or have a vendor relationship with it. It multiplies exponentially. Downtown Oklahoma City, which was not a hotbed of activity, put up a 900-ft. skyscraper, built a downtown and invested 10 lbs. of effort to get 50 lbs. of results. These are actual deals completed. We're not reinventing the wheel; we're just applying it here.