IRVINE, CA-Small to mid-sized companies make up a large percentage of added absorption in the Orange County market, Michael Dorsey of Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance's newly launched Orange County brokerage and advisory-services office here, tells GlobeSt.com. The firm's specialty is smaller local and regional businesses, which is “where we see most of the transactional commissions being generated,” says Dorsey.
More than 75% of all of the CRE lease transactions in Orange County are valued in the $500,000 to $5-million consideration, Dorsey says, “and that's where our strength and focus is.”
He adds that the company is seeing a lot of expansion beginning again among small to mid-sized companies in professional fields including law firms, healthcare, entertainment and accounting. “We saw very little expansion in the last few years, but we're starting to see tenants renew leases and expand. Typically, when you see activity in those areas, that means there are other businesses generating the need for those services. There's more of a demand, which means the health of the overall economy is starting to come back, albeit slowly.”
Regionally, this type of expansion is being seen all over this area of Southern California, including near the local airport, in South Orange County in the Spectrum, in Northern San Diego County and in Central Orange County, says Dorsey.
As GlobeSt.com reported earlier today, CBCA's new Orange County office will be run under Dorsey's direction. “We haven't signed our lease yet, but we have leases out now that we're looking at,” Dorsey tells GlobeSt.com. “We're at 2600 Michelson now, and we're looking to lease additional space in the building soon.” He adds that the office hopes to add between 18 and 22 brokers within the next 24 months, all in different specialties.
The new Orange County office will help facilitate the launch of the company's western region expansion. CBCA plans to enter as many as 10 markets within the next 12 months to establish its national platform.
As GlobeSt.com previously reported, CBCA was launched in New York City in August 2012 by Waterfall Asset Management, with an executive leadership team composed of brokerage-industry veterans CEO Obie Walli and president Bruce Weissberg. The first CBCA Alliance location was formed through its partnership with an established New York City brokerage firm.
Dorsey has more than 30 years of commercial real estate and brokerage experience, most recently serving as SVP with Voit Real Estate Services in its local office. He has an extensive knowledge of the entire Southern California commercial real estate market and is being tapped to build the Orange County operation for CBCA.
“This is an opportunity to leverage our mid-market, full-service platform that supports the underserved small-business arena like never before,” said Dorsey in a prepared statement. “Small to mid-cap companies make up the majority of all transactional real estate business within the Orange County market, and we will focus on that segment as our core business. No other commercial real estate brokerage firm has built a consistent business model to service this strategic segment of the market.”
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
