Newport Center expecting

Paul Clinton

A classically styled three-story office building is expected to

complement other Newport Center structures once it is completed later

this year.

With the 50,000-square-foot building at 680 Newport Center Drive,

the Irvine Co. hopes to attract more of the upper-level professional

clients that now lease other space in the center.

“We expect the building will attract financial service firms and

other professional services firms,” company spokeswoman Jennifer

Heiger said. “We expect the interest in the building to be very

strong.”

Right now, a slew of law firms, financial service companies and

other professional groups occupy Newport Center. Those include PIMCO,

Pacific Life, Charles Schwab & Co. and O’Melveny & Myers.

The Irvine Co. is also building a 200-stall parking structure to

accommodate the white-collar workers. Both structures will be

adjacent to the Four Seasons Hotel.

Metal rebar and framing from the building now jut into the sky;

construction began late last year.

The office project skirted a vote under the city’s Greenlight law

because the land had been entitled before the passage of that law in

November 2000. The Irvine Co. did not need an amendment to the

general plan.

The building’s architectural motif will be similar to that of the

existing buildings in the center. It will feature a rolling lawn,

flowering evergreens and a two-story lobby with glass and limestone,

Heiger said.

Company officials declined to provide leasing rates.

In November, the company presided over the opening of the new

Thaifoon restaurant in the center. No other developments for the

center are planned at this time, Heiger said.