Newport Dessert, which sells desserts to restaurants and other food purveyors, as well as directly to consumers via QVC, signed a 10-year lease for 19,000 square feet. The deal includes 15,000 square feet of industrial kitchen and distribution space and 4,000 square feet for a 70-seat cafe and restaurant. DeVry, which offers associate, bachelors and masters degree programs in technology, business and management, signed a seven-year lease for 16,000 square feet.

The property consists of a 25-year-old office complex the Los Angeles-based developer is converting into a mixed-use project with office, retail, educational and residential uses. Though the project has attracted a variety of tenants, Victoria Deise Wilson, the Alhambra's senior development manager, says the project's campus-like setting, with more than 20 low-rise brick buildings grouped around a carefully landscaped central courtyard and pocket parks, has made it particularly attractive to educational institutions.

In addition to DeVry tenants include USC Keck School of Medicine, Alliant International University, Platt College, Everest College and Pinnacle College. The last recently extended its existing lease of 7,115 square feet by five years and leased an additional 5,005 square feet for seven years. Wilson calls the campus-style draw especially fortunate in terms of today's challenging economic climate. "Education is one of the sectors of the economy we're told is doing well," she remarks. "Because we're attractive to that type of tenant, it's worked in our favor."