The future of office space is still creative, Bixby Land Co CEO Bill Halford tells us. And Bixby's betting on it, as it just acquired another building in OC with plans for a creative conversion.

Bixby paid $44M to buy the 262k SF building at 9950 Jeronimo Rd in Irvine from Kawasaki Motors Corp and plans to spend $20M to redevelop it. That's preferable to ground-up development, Bill says, because the pent-up demand for amenitized workplaces in Orange County means companies want space sooner rather than later. "This is the quickest way to bring these projects to market,” he says; the company's at work on similar redevelopments in Tustin and Santa Clara.

The redesign will focus on an interior access corridor beneath a high-volume glass canopy, where plans call for a fitness center and an indoor/outdoor café. The entryway bisects the building into three separate areas and provides a backdrop for Bixby Retreat, an outdoor gathering area for tenants that the company has used in other California office projects. Design work is being handled by architecture firm LPA. CBRE's Gregg Haly repped Kawasaki in the property sale.