Office Tenants Sign 61,000 SF in Leases

The accounting firm, Moore Stephens Wurth Frazer and Torbet LLP, plans to move its corporate headquarters from its current City of Industry area location to the new building located at 135 S. State College Blvd. CBRE's Tom Abel, who led a team including Taylor Ing and Michael Day that represented the Moore Stephens, says that the move allows the accounting firm to expand its offices, while achieving "significantly upgraded office space at very competitive terms in North Orange County."

The seven-year lease is valued at $3.35 million. After the relocation Moore Stephens will become one of Orange County's 10 largest accounting firms. The firm's clients represent both public and private companies and high-net-worth individuals in such areas as manufacturing, construction, agricultural business, wholesale and distribution.

In the City of Orange lease, CBRE's Justin Hill reports that Seabright Insurance signed for 17,040 square feet at Orange Executive Tower at 1100 Town and Country Rd., a 16-story, 384,183-square-foot class A tower. Hill, who represented building owner the Muller Co. along with CBRE's Mark Friend and Peter Wells, says that the lease is indicative of a the "flight to quality" trend in today's office market. He explains that tenants are migrating to higher quality space to take advantage of lease terms that were not available in the boom years.

Seabright was previously located in a class B building on Parker Street in Orange.

Property owners like the Muller Co. "recognize the opportunity today's market presents for tenants, and recognize the value that tenants like Seabright bring to their property," Hill says. He adds that the flight-to-quality trend "benefits both tenants and owners of high quality, well-positioned office buildings."

The other four deals totaled 25,000 square feet, including three renewals and one new lease, all at the 15-story, 321,836-square-foot class A Xerox Centre at 1851 E. 1st St. in Santa Ana. CBRE's Simon Dillon, Friend and Hill represented the landlord, WCB Properties, in each of the transactions.

Renewals included law firm Adelson, Testan and Brundo for 11,578 square feet; re-insurance firm Devonshire Group for 10,170 square feet and Brymus Capital for 2,098 square feet. Geico Insurance signed a new lease for 2,059 square feet.

Hill says that the renewals illustrate "a growing trend in today's market where tenants are choosing to renew early to take advantage of current market conditions." He said the trend benefits landlords as well because it allows them to shore up their long-term occupancy with proven, credit-worthy tenants.

Terms of the individual leases at the Xerox Centre were not disclosed, but the aggregate value of the leases, which included some short-term deals, was approximately $1.77 million. Terms of the Seabright deal were not disclosed.

In the Seabright Lease, Seabright was representedby John Tran and Rick Kaplan of Cushman & Wakefield; in the Adelson, Testan lease, the law firm was represented by Liz Hurley of Cushman & Wakefield. Geico was represented by Curtis Elmore of Jones Lang LaSalle.