The airport area is unlikely to see many more land acquisitions for traditional industrial uses, JLL Orange County's Matt Christensen tells us. That’s because of the lack of developable land and the cost of acquisition compared to other markets. What few parcels remain will likely be targeted for more specialized industrial uses, creative offices or other specialty services catering to the burgeoning residential developments, he says.

Recently Matt and colleagues Luke McDaniel and Cameron Driscoll repped Sivax North America in one such specialized industrial deal, when the auto-body company acquired four acres in Irvine so it can build a new R&D/manufacturing facility (Sivax, based in Japan, came to the US last year; pictured is one of its 2000s concept cars). Constructing a building for Sivax’s specialized needs proved to be the best alternative, Matt says, not only because of limited inventory in the Orange County industrial market, but also due to the older nature of existing buildings. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank repped the seller, PSIP WR Red Hill.