Deals of 153,000 SF Include 30,000-SF Expansion

CB Richard Ellis reports that Office Master Inc., a manufacturer of ergonomic office chairs, has signed a five-year deal for its new space, which at 1110 Mildred Ave. in a newly completed building developed by Sacramento-based Panattoni Development. Office Master will bring approximately 60 jobs to the building, according to CBRE's Lyn Eisenhower and Lynn Knox, who represented the tenant.

The lease is valued at $2.4 million and includes an option to purchase, which the tenant hopes to execute quickly, according to the brokers. Office Master Inc.'s current headquarters is at 2009 Wright Ave. in LaVerne, a building that the furniture maker owns and has occupied for approximately 10 years. Eisenhower and Knox are marketing the building for sale.

Eisenhower says that the decision to relocate to Ontario, and specifically to this building, "came down to value." She adds, "The tenant wanted new construction, and we looked at all options in the San Gabriel Valley, but ultimately, the value we were able to achieve for the tenant with this state-of-the art building couldn't be found in other markets."

The Office Master lease is with Belmont & Grove Land Holdings LLC, a division of Panattoni, according to Grubb & Ellis Co., which represented the building owner in the lease. The Grubb & Ellis team included senior vice presidents Roger Rhoades and Milo Lipson, along with associate Michael Arens. The building is located within the Belmont and Grove Business Park, a prime west Ontario location, Arens points out.

In the CIP leases at Empire Towers, the Irvine-based commercial real estate investment and management company has signed 11 tenants to new leases valued at more than $5.5 million at the Empire Towers Office Park, a master-planned, five-building business center comprising more than 525,000 square feet of class-A office space. Scott Flemer, SVP of marketing for CIP Real Estate Property Services, reports "a considerable volume of leasing" at the office project from a broad range of tenants.

CIP's new deals include four new leases, two expansions and five renewals. The two largest deals were an 11,650-square-foot renewal by Sedgwick Claims Management and a 7,945-square-foot renewal by Merrill Lynch/Bank of America. Sedgwick was represented by Vindar Batoosingh of CBRE and CIP was represented by Wyatt Prichard of CIP Real Estate Property Services. In the Merrill Lynch/Bank of America deal, the building ownership was represented by Phillip J. Woodford of CBRE and the tenant was represented by Myron Galchutt of Newmark Knight Frank.

The tenants in the other leases included XO Communications, Windsor Foods, health plan specialist Word & Brown, Mutual of Omaha, National General Insurance Co., American Justice Mitigation, Kaiser Ventures, Powell Electronics and Fidelity National Title.