$180M Opus Office Project Wins Approval

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA-The city council here has approved Irvine-based developer Opus West’s plans for a 435,000-sf mixed-use project called Opus Corporate Center. The development will include twin four-story class A office buildings totaling 361,000 sf, 21,000 sf of restaurants, a 45,000-sf fitness center and 8,000 sf of service retail.

The project is planned for a 21.5-acre site off the US 101 Freeway at Lindero Canyon Road. Opus expects to break ground this April, with completion anticipated in the first quarter of 2009.

The development site is the last major office parcel to be developed in Westlake Village. It will be designed to attract major corporations seeking modern institutional quality office space that is close to their employees. To maintain the character of the site, Opus West is incorporating existing oak trees into the project.

Opus has designed the development as a mixed-use project in response to community feedback. The restaurant space will be on three freestanding pads. The design will feature a landscaped pedestrian promenade connecting the offices, with a covered parking deck.

Stuart Morkun, Opus West director of real estate development, points out that the project’s fitness center, restaurants and shop space will provide amenities and services for the greater community, for occupants of the project and for nearly 500,000 sf of adjacent office buildings. Opus Architects & Engineers is the project designer; construction will be by Opus West Construction Corp.

Opus has named the CB Richard Ellis team of senior vice presidents Nicholas Gregg and Michael Slater for office leasing, and David Rush for leasing retail space.

The Opus project is further evidence of demand for commercial space of all kinds in Westlake Village and nearby communities. Recently, for example, an office condominium project called Vantage opened in the city with a high percentage of the units already sold, as did a medical office condo project in Camarillo. The Vantage at Westlake is an $18-million office condominium project that opened with more than 83% of its space sold; the other is Camarillo Office Condos, a medical/office development that was more than 50% sold when it opened.