"We've seen some very good velocity in first quarter," says Hines senior vice president Doug Holte, the company's regional partner for Orange and San Diego counties. "We've had a good mix of finance, insurance and real estate tenants, and now we're getting other companies as well." Among the tenants signed since January are Golden Gate Software Inc., which provides real-time data integration and high availability IT solutions, the law firm McKassen & Klein LLP and CG Funding, a division of San Diego-based Corporate Governance Funding.

Holte attributes the building's ability to attract tenants in a competitive market to a combination of factors, foremost among which is the Hines name and the Houston-based company's reputation for quality construction and superior property management. In addition, he points out the building is the first office building on the West Coast to achieve LEED silver certification, though two other Hines West Coast projects have since joined it. "Two of the new tenants are green businesses," he says. "The LEED status gives tenants a boost to their green branding efforts."

Though Holte will not quote asking rates for the property, he describes rents as above market for the area. According to Orion Property Partners, which is located in the building, and has the leasing assignment, class A rents for top tier buildings in the airport submarket range from $2.95 to $3.75 a square foot per month. According to Orion brokers Jay Carnahan and Bob Thagard, the submarket saw 108,765 square feet of absorption in Q1, which would mean the Hines building leases accounted for more than 52% of it.