IRVINE, CA—Office owners are not going to be able to rely on rent growth, so they will need to focus on value engineering and lease structuring in order to see greater returns on their investment, New York Life Real Estate Investors' managing director Thomas O'Hanlon tells GlobeSt.com. As we recently reported, his firm's recently acquired 18201 Von Karman, a 229,000-square-foot, 11-story, institutional-quality office building here, to be overseen by Greenlaw Partners. We spoke exclusively with O'Hanlon and senior director Chris Hunt about their plans for the property, the Orange County market and the outlook for office investment this year.

GlobeSt.com: What attracted you to 18201 Von Karman, and what types of upgrades are you planning or considering for it?

Hunt: We thought this was a very centrally located, high-profile, high-visibility asset in the Irvine Airport submarket, one of our favorite submarkets in Orange County. It also needed a little refurbishment to add value, so we're redoing the main lobby of the building and the common areas. It was a strike-zone buy for us to come in and take a very well-maintained property and bring it up to a more contemporary standard. The outdoor common areas have already been spruced up by the existing ownership. We will be working on the inside of the building, the lobby and retail.