CIP Real Estate Completes More Than $27.7 Million in Leases at Ontario's Empire Towers in Six Months

ONTARIO, CA and IRVINE, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 4, 2014) - CIP Real Estate, an Irvine, California-based real estate investment and management company, has completed leases totaling more than $27.7 million at Empire Towers, the premier office park in the Ontario Airport office market, in the first half of 2014. The tenant roster for the approximately 232,000 square feet of lease transactions consists of a "who's who" of major corporate players in the Inland Empire, including Wells Fargo Bank, Merrill Lynch, CBRE, Windsor Foods, National General Insurance, First American Title and Liberty Mutual.

"The Inland Empire office market has made a remarkable recovery in 2014, with vacancy rates expected to decrease this year to levels last seen in 2008 before the recession," states Phil Woodford, senior vice president of CBRE, the leasing agent for Empire Towers. "Given the current pace of leasing activity and demand from tenants presently located in Ontario and tenants from outside of the County, we now forecast that occupancy will reach levels to support significant increases in rental rates this year and into 2015."

An anchor tenant at Empire Towers since 1998, CBRE recently extended its lease in Empire Towers for 10 years, which included converting the premises facing the 10 freeway to its new open office format. CBRE has converted many of its regional offices across the country to this new design, reducing its footprint and improving operating efficiencies. CBRE is one of several major corporations, such as David Evans & Associates, Sedgwick and Wells Fargo that have made long-term commitments to the Ontario area due to improving dynamics and solid long-term trends existing in the Inland Empire.

"Along with Corona and Downtown Riverside, the Ontario office market, is filling up with larger spaces becoming increasingly scarce," said Scott Flemer, executive vice president of CIP Real Estate. "We are spending considerable capital to renovate our properties to accommodate increased demand. It's about having attractive space ready-to-go," adds Flemer.

CIP Real Estate is the manager and co-owner of four of the six buildings at Empire Towers with an affiliate of Guggenheim Real Estate.

CIP Real Estate is a full-service real estate investment and management company focused on the acquisition, development, repositioning and management of office, business and industrial management parks. Founded in 1995, CIP Real Estate owns and manages more than five million square feet of quality real estate throughout California, Nevada and North Carolina, and has completed more than $1 billion in acquisitions and dispositions since its inception. www.ciprealestate.com

Guggenheim Real Estate, a division of Guggenheim Partners, was formed in 2002 and manages approximately $1.2 billion of client assets as of June 30, 2014. GRE's direct property investments include 9.5 million square feet of office, industrial, retail, and multi-family property throughout the U.S. GRE invests across the real estate spectrum on behalf of institutional and private clients. Guggenheim Partners is a global investment and advisory firm with more than $210 billion in assets under management.