Shea Properties Kicks Off 500 KSF Industrial Project in Orange County

By Barbra Murray

Shea Business Center

A premier industrial park will soon hit the market in Orange County, Calif., courtesy of a new project by Shea Properties. The diversified real estate company recently commenced construction on Shea Business Center, a 500,000-square-foot complex in Santa Ana.

Shea Business Center is being developed along the 600 block of E. Dyer Road, on the approximately 25-acre former site of the ITT campus. Encompassing nine state-of-the art buildings, the development will offer amenities ranging from drought tolerant landscaping to power for electric vehicles—and provide square footage to a hungry market.

“Companies want newer designed buildings to meet their growth needs. E-commerce has increased the need for industrial, especially that last-mile fulfillment,” Jon Marchiorlatti, vice president of industrial acquisitions and development for Shea Properties, told Commercial Property Executive. “Also, there have been no new buildings developed in this market for about 12 years.” Evidence of high demand can be found in the numbers. The overall vacancy rate in Santa Ana was just 3 percent during the second quarter of 2018, and a mere 1.9 percent across Orange County, according to a report by commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. John Griffin and Max Wang, executive managing director and senior associate, respectively, with Cushman & Wakefield, are overseeing leasing for Shea Business Center.

Demolition of the former ITT site is currently underway and construction of the new buildings at Shea Business Center is scheduled to commence later in 2018.

Hands in many pies

2018 is proving to be a busy year for Shea, which has been active across a host of property sectors. The company delivered Village Center Station II, a 306,000-square-foot suburban Denver office building preleased in its entirety to Charter Communications. In Southern California, construction continues on Symmetry, a 429-unit apartment community near California State University, Northridge. Work has also gotten underway on The Square at Bressi Ranch, an 87,000-square-foot, grocery-anchored neighborhood center in the prestigious beach city of Carlsbad, near San Diego. A mixed-use project is also in the works, with the company having announced the joint venture acquisition of 76 acres of land in Dublin, Calif., near San Francisco.

Additionally, Shea has more industrial projects in progress. Construction has already commenced on Shea Center Corona, a three-building, 731,000-square-foot development in Corona, Calif., not far from Orange County. “We are always looking to build ground-up business parks in Southern and Northern California,” added Marchiorlatti.

And there is a trend afoot in the industrial sector that is playing a role in Shea’s development decisions. “As the demand for industrial grows, competition with alternative users—apartments and retail—increases. It makes sense to buy existing older industrial properties to repurpose. We’re seeing an increase in this now,” Marchiorlatti noted.

Shea expects to deliver Shea Business Center in October 2019.

Image courtesy of Shea Properties