The growing tilt toward office landlords in Orange County doesn’t mean that tenants still can’t find deals. A stronger average for the entire market can mask the fact that some places are lagging behind.

PM Realty Group SVP Oliver Fleener (right, with colleague Tim Joyce) tells us the office market there will continue to get tighter over the next couple years. In certain areas, landlords and projects are doing better than others, such as where the Irvine Co controls a larger share of the product. However, there are great deals to be found "on a project-by-project basis” in other places, he says.

Recently Oliver repped Citadel Servicing Corp in its renewal and expansion at Irvine Spectrum Office Plaza at 15707 Rockfield in Irvine. The deal nearly tripled Citadel’s original size at this location, taking it to over 14k SF. Oliver says the 61k SF building wasn’t as well leased (58%) compared to the surrounding buildings, and so it provided a good opportunity. “After all, vacancies are averages, which means a high-occupancy project is usually balanced with a nearby low occupancy project,” he notes. PRES Cos director Adam Espinoza repped the owner, PRES Cos.