Our mission is to advance the economic vitality of greater Irvine.
Our core initiatives are to be a CATALYST for local economic growth, to be a CHAMPION for the business community with all levels of government, and to CONVENE greater Irvine stakeholders.
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(Orange County Business Journal) The Irvine Company didn’t stop building during the pandemic. Now the region’s largest commercial real estate landlord has a slate of new buildings that are expected to draw plenty of interest from tenants wanting low-rise product as their workers return to the office. The state’s largest office owner, with more than 560 buildings in its portfolio—a bulk of which are in Orange County—has opened the first phase of its latest ground-up office campus, Innovation Office Park, in the Irvine Spectrum area. The loft-style office project is on 73 acres, roughly the size of Irvine Co.’s Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach. It’s near the intersection of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway and Sand Canyon Avenue. The project will ultimately span 1.1 million square feet. The just-wrapped first phase total 300,000 square feet across eight two-story buildings. Many but not all of the buildings are expected to be occupied by a single tenant. Innovation Office Park’s design stands apart from other products in Irvine Co.’s portfolio, with a “workplace designed for health and wellness,” according to the developer, whose marketing materials for the campus emphasizes an abundance of features and amenities geared toward indoor-outdoor working, and a bevy of customization options for tenants. “W...
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(Orange County Register) Orange County’s homebuying binge continued in February with sales up 13% and prices increasing 9.6% over 12 months to a record high. The selling spree came as recovery quickened from the pandemic’s broad economic challenges. Interest rates remained low but are rising. Severely limited housing inventory also hindered house hunters seeking new or larger living spaces. Here’s a look at DQNews/CoreLogic’s report on February’s closed transactions in the county … Sales: 2,725 residences sold, existing and new — up 13% in a year. The last time the county had more sales in February was 2006. Sales in the past 12 months totaled 35,692, up 3.3% above the previous 12 months and 2.6% above the average since 2010. The past year’s share of overall Southern California sales was 14.9%, equal to the average since 2010. Prices: The countywide median of $820,000 was up 9.6% over 12 months. Over 10 years, the gains have averaged 6.8% annually. The latest median breaks the record of $800,000 set last August. Since the Great Recession, pricing has risen 27% vs. the 2000’s bubble-era high. Existing single-family houses: 1,671 sold, up 11% in a year. Median of $910,000 — a 10% increase over 12 months. Existing condos: 805 sales, up 20% over 12 months. Median of $595,000 &mdash...
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The U.S. Small Business Administration officially opened the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) application portal on April 8 for operators of live venues, live performing arts organizations, museums and movie theatres, as well as live venue promoters, theatrical producers, and talent representatives to apply for critical economic relief, as those eligible entities are some of the first that had to shutter their doors a year ago in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Concerts, plays, dance performances, movie premieres, museum exhibits – these are the lifeblood of culture and community, and often the anchor for travel, tourism, and neighborhood food and retail stores. We know that for the stage and venue operators across the nation that help make this culture happen, the pandemic has been devastating. Too many have been forced to lower the final curtain on their businesses. Today, with more than $16.2 billion available through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants, help is here,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. “The SBA is committed to moving as quickly as possible to deliver this vital funding effectively and equitably - ensuring relief goes to those venue operators whose revenues have been most impacted by the pandemic.” The SVOG program was appropriated more than $16.2 billion for grant...
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March marked one year since the coronavirus changed the way Californians live and work. This spring carries a sense of optimism as vaccines become more widely available. But recent data outlining the pandemic’s devastating effects on the state’s tourism economy illustrate just how challenging a year it was for the travel industry and how much work it will take to climb back to 2019 travel spending levels. The coronavirus halted a record 10 years of growth for California’s tourism economy in 2020, erasing $86 billion in visitor spending and 518,000 travel and hospitality jobs throughout the state. More than one-third of the jobs lost in California in 2020 were in the travel and hospitality sector. The sharp decline in California’s tourism spending—representing a 60% fall from pre-pandemic levels—resulted in an economic fallout 10 times worse than the drop in travel spending that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. No industry’s workforce has felt the impacts of the coronavirus as acutely as travel and hospitality. According to California’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery, job losses hit the leisure and hospitality industry far harder than other economic sectors, with nearly a million jobs erased in the early months. New research from Visit California shows Black and Hispanic worker...
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