My father and I were looking at aerial maps and we were looking at when the tollway was going in, and we noticed that 70% to 80% of the homes had been built, but very little commercial had been built. Some property had been sold to Super Kmart, but it was very hodgepodge when we came in. We appealed to Mission Viejo Co. and said instead of big-box retail, it would be great to have a complete office campus with amenities like a hotel/sports club and more shopping opportunities available within that oval of Aliso Viejo town center.

Our project we purchased in four phases with an institutional partnership. We bought 55 acres of property over a period of four years, and we had to perform on each of the phases of the property. We've always been a small developer, and as long as we had time to go to an institutional investor or partner, we could do it. Back in 1995 and 1996, it was like picking up apples off the ground because Aliso Viejo really appealed to South Orange County. People needed triple the amount of square footage than where they were, so we built 75% of our projects on spec. Our first phase was 68% preleased, and that represented Remedy Temp from San Juan Capistrano and Safeguard Dental, a dental HMO that came from Anaheim.

Then, the dotcom boom happened in the late '90s, and we were off and running with our phase 2, which was tech space. Buy.com were big tenants in phase 2. QLogic came from Costa Mesa, and we did a hybrid build for them. We were so busy and had so much going on because we were striking a balance designed into Aliso Viejo of bringing more into the area. It fit a need for all of those South Orange County people. But what we tried to do was build a series of buildings. We tried to stay away from the jewel-box mentality of a big fancy building. We built low-rise buildings.

With the help of Gensler, we surveyed the bigger high-tech tenants like Microsoft. In the mid-to-late '90s, you needed proof of what tenants wanted, and we thought people wanted something different. They wanted flexibility most of all, due to the super unpredictable growth of these companies, and all of these companies we put in fit to a T. They were doubling their space every year. We built spec projects to meet the needs of the tenant: they wanted more daylight, and they needed more security now that more women were in the workforce. We built restrooms over code because we wanted to have restrooms and common areas that were really nice. The secret ingredients were the outdoor areas, pergolas, outdoor conference rooms and people places that really appealed to tenants. This took us through a lot of cycles, but it led to six phases of Summit. We were able to attract Lennar Homes even in a pretty bad market, but it came down to retention and attraction of the best workforce. That's where we always market to; if you can do that, you'll hang onto the best and brightest people and attract the best and brightest people looking for jobs. The location was a really easy sell for them.

We would always periodically survey the tenants about amenities. They loved restaurants close by, they wanted choices and no long wait lines in restaurants, but they also wanted a business hotel with an amenity-rich environment and a sports club. We were able to attract a sports club/hotel combo in 2007: Renaissance Club. It's a great club and a good-value business hotel for under $200 per night. The employees of these prospective companies loved it.

GlobeSt.com: As the build-to-suit developer, what are your thoughts and challenges as this new project finishes the campus?

Parker: During the last nine years or so, we've bene doing consulting work. We did a construction-management project job in Marina del Rey on a big retail center, and we're super interested in these experience centers like Abbott Kinney, the Lab, the Camp, SoCo and South Cedros Design District in Solana Beach. Abbott Kinney and Cedros are really organic—they don't have a developer behind them. The new generation is really into experiences and they're dedicated workers. They'll work 24/7, but they need an environment that's not sterile. They want to live near the area, and they want to be in a happening place.

What's the next big workplace? It's been simplified. The next workforce generation is truly looking for an experience center/hip place to live. It's not necessarily putting apartments next to office, but building office near where the workforce is hanging out. The main ingredients are food, coffee, places to hang around in between home and work and drink craft beer or do wine tasting. The best office development is more of a mixed-use development. You're giving more flexibility to the workers about how they want to work. They'd rather hang around a common area with a cool atrium or outside or at a local coffee shop as well as being in the office and having touchdown opportunities. The office is a great place, but we need to get the office to be more kid and pet friendly and have more of a retail vibe. That's the kind of deals I'm looking for in the future.

This is the last phase of Summit—we're out of land. We're going to be very preoccupied for the next year or more for this building. But beyond that, the real opportunity and growth for our next project will be these great workplaces.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the med-tech users market?

Parker: In South Orange County, we have medical-device clusters vs. San Diego's bioscience clusters. One of my best friends is on his third medical-device company in Aliso Viejo. There's been a tremendous evolution and momentum for medical-device users in Aliso Viejo. The only problem is they don't have great linkage with UCI, whereas San Diego has that linkage with UCSD.