Courtesy of Tishman Speyer
A rendering of the ongoing Bake Freeway Business Park project in Irvine
A joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Mitsui Fudosan Americas began construction on the 380,000-square-foot first phase of the Bake Freeway Business Park, an industrial project in Irvine.
Tishman Speyer and MFA secured an $84.75 million construction loan from JPMorgan Chase to help finance the project's first two buildings. The financing was arranged by CBRE Vice Chairman Val Achtemeier and Senior Vice President Greg Grant.
Completion of the first two buildings at 15700 and 15800 Bake Parkway is expected in the third quarter of 2025. The site is adjacent to the intersection of the 405 and 5 freeways.
“The Bake Freeway Business Park will bring brand new industrial space to a location that has historically been underserved with new Class A products,” said Andy Burke, managing director of Tishman Speyer, in a statement.
The Irvine submarket has a vacancy rate of 3.2%. According to CBRE, nothing was under construction in the third quarter. Overall, Orange County's industrial vacancy rate rose from 2.1% in the second quarter to 2.9% in the third quarter, above the 15-year average of 2.3%. Like other Southern California industrial markets, Orange County residents reassessed their space needs and lost square footage in the third quarter.
The Tishman MFA JV acquired the 31.9-acre development property in good standing in December 2023 and announced the purchase in January. A purchase price was not disclosed, but public records show the JV paid $145.9 million for the site, The Real Deal reported at the time. The property is in the Great Park Neighborhoods area of Irvine and the seller was Five Point Holdings.
Once completed, Bake Freeway will comprise four buildings ranging from 73,000 sqm to 203,000 sqm, for a total of approximately 600,000 sqm of Class A space.
The Tishman-MFA joint venture launched in 2022 with an initial commitment of $500 million, the companies announced at the time.