Hyundai has signed a major office lease in Irvine, Orange County, securing 133,745 square feet—about 1.7 times the size of a soccer field—in the county’s largest office lease deal of 2024.
According to the Orange County Business Journal, Hyundai leased the entire building at 2300 Main Street, Irvine, making it the biggest office lease transaction in the region this year.
Hyundai affiliates already maintain a significant presence in Orange County. Hyundai Capital operates an office on Michelson Drive in Irvine, while logistics and transport subsidiary Hyundai Glovis purchased a 128,813-square-foot building on Von Karman Avenue in April for $35.7 million. In addition, Hyundai Motor America directly owns its 503,536-square-foot U.S. headquarters in Fountain Valley.
It remains unclear which Hyundai affiliate—Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Capital, or Hyundai Glovis—will occupy the newly leased Irvine property.
The office building at 2300 Main Street was developed in 2002 by LBA Realty and had most recently been occupied by OptumRx, a pharmacy benefit management subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. It is currently owned by Germany-based Manova Partners, with CBRE managing leasing operations.
The new lease represents a significant jump in scale compared to earlier activity. In the first quarter, Hyundai Glovis signed a lease for 53,282 square feet in Irvine, which at the time ranked as the county’s second-largest lease of the year. The latest 133,745-square-foot deal far surpasses that, making it the second-largest available building in Irvine’s core office submarket.
A recent CBRE report noted that the Orange County office market is showing signs of recovery. In the second quarter, leasing activity rose 23 percent from the prior quarter, with 279 transactions totaling 1.8 million square feet. The county’s office vacancy rate stood at 15.7 percent.
BY HOONSIK WOO
