Tech Firm Sells Headquarters for $5.5M

Sole, a manufacturer of footwear and clothing for the skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing and BMX racing marketplace, will occupy 100% of the 38,000-sf property, which will house the company's administrative, sales and marketing operations. The two-story building features upscale office space with a highly flexible floorplan. It is close to the Route 241 Foothill Transportation Corridor and provides more than 240 feet of frontage visible from the toll road as well as access to the Irvine Spectrum and Santa Ana (5) and San Diego (405) freeways.

Sole Technology's acquisition will allow the company to expand its operations, according to Todd P. Miller, vice president of Western States Technologies. Western States was represented in the transaction by Trent Walker and Jeff Mitchell of Voit Commercial Brokerage. Sole Technology was represented by Marilyn Donovan of Ashwill Associates.

Western States Technologies was established in 1985 in Los Angeles. The company develops, acquires and rehabilitates industrial and office properties. It owns and manages a mixed-use portfolio totaling more than one million sf in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

Demand for facilities like the Sole headquarters is one reason that Orange County's office vacancy rate decreased slightly in 2002, according to a report on the office market by Voit. Jerry Holdner, a Voit vice president and chief of research, tells GlobeSt.com the vacancy rate dipped by just more than a quarter of a percentage point in the fourth quarter, sliding to 14.52% to reverse a trend in which the county's vacancy had been rising. It was 14.78% in fourth quarter 2001. Holdner called the improvement "a sign of strength," noting that almost two million sf of new office space that was built in 2002 was absorbed.