Santa Clarita Valley Office Vacancies Highest in Region

Colliers International released its second quarter report for the office market in Santa Clarita Valley. The region benefitted from medical device maker, Advanced Bionics, signing a 10-year lease for 144,000 square feet of space at 28515 Westinghouse Place in Santa Clarita, but the office vacancy rate increased 90 basis points in Q2 to 28.8 percent. Santa Clarita Valley has the highest office vacancy rate in the greater San Fernando Valley area. West Ventura County is at 21.3 percent; Conejo Valley, 19.6 percent; West Valley, 17.3 percent; Central Valley, 13.4 percent; and East Valley, 13.3 percent. On the up-side, the report said Advanced Bionics’ deal will provide positive absorption to the Santa Clarita Valley market over the next year. And the region experienced a slowdown in defaults and downsizing in the second quarter largely tied to the mortgage, title and escrow industries. But overall demand remains soft and landlords are trying to attract and retain tenants by offering reduced rents, early renewals, and concessions in the form of tenant improvements and free rent, and short-term leases. The weighted average asking rental rate in Santa Clarita Valley is $2.71 per square foot per month Full Service Gross. It is up from $2.69 per square foot last quarter, but down from $2.78 a year ago. In comparison, the Q2 rate in Conejo Valley was $2.52; West Valley, $2.37; East Valley $2.37; Central Valley $2.36; and West Ventura County, $1.97. No new office buildings were delivered to the market in Q2. A total of 103,500 square feet of space at the Santa Clarita Professional Center in Canyon Country is under construction. But the project is on hold and there was no reported completion date at the time Colliers published its report. Centre Pointe Village Complete Some news for Santa Clarita Valley not related to the Colliers report. Construction is complete at Centre Pointe Village, a 15-acre retail project in Santa Clarita, according to general contractor Oltmans Construction Co. The 133,000 square foot development is located adjacent to Golden Valley Rd. and McKeon Way. It has six buildings, including a 58,890 square foot structure occupied by Dick’s Sporting Goods; 30,000 square foot building occupied by Babies R Us; 24,970 square foot building occupied by Easy Life Furniture; 7,000 square foot building occupied by G Stage Clothing; and two pad structures of 5,561 and 6,163 square feet. There are two small pads of 8,000 square feet yet to market, and approximately 30,000 square feet of build-to-suit space available. Centre Pointe Village can be expanded to 160,000 square feet. The estimated value of the project is $22 million. Designed by Perkowitz & Ruth Architects of Long Beach, buildings feature modern Mediterranean styling, accented by colorful exteriors, glass, metal lattice work, and large wall mounted sconce lighting. Online Auctions A press release rolled across my desk this week stating CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, Voit commercial brokerage and Collins Commercial selected AuctionPoint.com, an online auction platform, to sell a number of commercial properties in Southern California. AuctionPoint said the firms created unique online auction sites, each dedicated to a specific property auction, which opened for bidder registration on August 10. Auctions will take place in September. Properties for the September auction include a number of flex-industrial condominium developments, an office condo, and a single tenant leased investment property. They are located in Irvine, Riverside and Tustin. As of July 1, 2009, there was $4.5 billion worth of commercial properties in the Los Angeles area in various stages of default, foreclosure or bankruptcy, according to Real Capital Analytics. The 263 properties included 58 office, 56 retail, 52 industrial, 45 apartments, 26 hotels, 19 tagged “development,” and seven labeled as “other.” Staff Reporter Eric Billingsley can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected] .