Koll Begins Construction on 11-Story Building

The Koll Co. of Newport Beach said it has begun construction of an 11-story office building in the southern section of its Koll Center Irvine business park. Less than four months ago the company began building twin, 12-story office towers in the park’s northern half.

The three blue and black glass-faced buildings, representing an investment by Koll of $165 million, will add a total of 830,000 square feet of office space to the business center near the John Wayne Airport on Von Karman Avenue, just south of the San Diego Freeway.

Construction of the buildings comes at a time when industry specialists report an oversupply of office space in the airport area and when economic forecasters expect a lull in commercial construction.

But the Koll Center is an established business address near John Wayne Airport and continues to be attractive to companies looking for a central location.

Michael Lewis, Koll’s vice president of development, said the company is “essentially out of inventory” and needs to provide more space at the business park, which now has seven high-rise buildings including the Irvine Marriott Hotel, the Taco Bell Corp. headquarters and the headquarters buildings of National Education Corp. and Burlington Airfreight. In March, Taco Bell Corp., with corporate offices in three Irvine locations, made Orange County history by agreeing to lease an entire 12-story building to serve as office space for all of the fast-food chain’s corporate workers.

Financial terms for a 10-year lease on the 278,000-square-foot building the Koll Co. had completed just a few months earlier were not disclosed, but the Taco Bell agreement was the largest single office-space deal ever signed in Orange County.

More recently, Newport Beach-based Cochrane Chase, Livingston & Co. said that it has signed a preliminary agreement to lease space in the business park. The company is a subsidiary of the New York-based advertising firm of Saatchi & Saatchi Compton Worldwide. Cochrane Chase officials would not disclose how much space they are leasing or any of the lease terms.

The new 11-story building, designed by Albert C. Martin & Associates in Irvine, will contain 230,000 square feet of office space and is expected to be completed in 1988. It is the last of four 11-story towers planned for the park’s southern section, an area that already includes the 500-room Irvine Marriott and several restaurants.