South Orange County is quickly becoming the 'Downtown' of the Orange County office market—stealing the title from the Airport Area. South County has seen migration from other popular office markets, namely the Airport Area, and in the first quarter, the submarket led office absorption in Orange County, logging 864,000 square feet, according to the first quarter report from Newmark Knight Frank. Broadcom's 660,000-square-foot lease at Five Point Gateway in Irvine accounted for the majority of the leasing activity, while class-B renovations helped fuel rent growth—making the market the most expensive in Orange County. To find out more about the South County market, we sat down with George Thompson, senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, for an exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: What is driving activity in the South Orange County market to the extent that it has become a leader in the office market?

George Thomson: The Irvine Co. has some fantastic new projects that hit the inventory, and so when you really look at the large blocks of quality space and how the Spectrum has evolved into a Downtown Orange County destination with the amenities and housing, the overall delivery of the environment there. It has access to a labor pool and large blocks of space where people can consolidate. Now, you have the bridges with Five Point Gateway, which is where Broadcom relocate. That has big trend in the in South County and the Spectrum in particular, not only this quarter, but it has culminated most recently with the delivery of these new projects. That is the ongoing dynamic, and we don't see it stopping moving forward.