Grove Signs First Office Tenant

RIVERSIDE, CA-Design engineering firm LSA Associates has agreed to a five-year lease for 20,262 sf of office space that will make it the first tenant at the 50,000-sf first phase of the new 350,000-sf Grove office development. The project is a development of Riverside Commercial Investors in the Hunter Park area of Riverside.The first phase of the Grove is a two-story building that has been under construction since June. With this lease, LSA is expanding its Inland Empire operations by more than 15,000 sf, which will allow for growth from approximately 28 employees to 100 employees.Riverside Commercial was represented by Vindar Batoosingh and Philip Woodford of CB Richard Ellis, with the tenant represented by Simmonds Realty Group. LSA is scheduled to move into the new building, which is at 1500 Iowa Ave., at the Northeast corner of Marlbourough and Iowa avenues, in April.The is planned for seven two-story buildings, each totaling approximately 50,000 sf. The developer expects to break ground on the second phase in early 2006 and to be completed in 2007.Riverside Commercial partner Rufus Barkley says the company was attracted to the development site for a number of reasons, including its proximity to the 60 and 215 freeways.Brokers say the signing of the first tenant will take already strong preleasing activity for the project to the next level, with additional tenant announcements imminent.Batoosingh says that the CBRE brokers “expect to see a lot of activity in the next several months” at the project. He points out that it offers one of the highest parking ratios in the area, with 5.23 cars per 1,000 sf of leased spaced.The Grove is RCI’s seventh project in the Hunter Park area, and the company’s 22nd project in the Inland Empire, including 17 completed projects and six others currently in development. RCI has completed four million sf of development and has another four million sf in various stages of development.