IRVINE, CA-As GlobeSt.com reported earlier this week, a joint venture between Hines and Oaktree Capital Management L.P. has signed a lease agreement with Kulicke & Soffa, a manufacturer of semiconductor and LED assembly equipment, for 66,538 square feet of high-image office/R&D space at 1821 E. Dyer Rd. at Irvine Corporate Center in Santa Ana. The move points up the demand for this type of hybrid space in Orange County.

Jones Lang LaSalle's Wade Clark, who along with team member Joe Bevan represented the landlord in the transaction, tells GlobeSt.com that mainly high-tech and medical-instrument companies are seeking this space. “Parking is a limitation on most office/R&D properties. Most financial-service organizations are trying to minimize the square-foot-per-person ratio, which does not work well for properties that have three- or 3.5-per-1,000-square-foot parking ratios.”

The ability to have ground-level loading and access is also important to firms seeking this space, and it's key is that the space has a floor-plate size of 30,000 square feet or greater and clear heights over 15 ft., says Clark. “This allows medical-device companies to space-plan efficiently and achieve the departmental adjacencies needed for their manufacturing process.”