Cerritos Office Project to Get Underway

Torrance-based Transpacific Development Co. will break ground Thursday on a 165,000-square-foot, eight-story, speculative office building at Cerritos Towne Center in Cerritos. The $30-million project will be the sixth office building Transpacific has developed at the Cerritos center, a combination office, shopping and hotel development at the 91 Freeway and Bloomfield Avenue. The five previous Transpacific office projects total 462,000 square feet. The new building was designed by Archisystems International of Santa Monica and will be built by Millie & Severson of Los Alamitos. Transpacific is contacting prospective lenders to seek a construction loan, but it will begin the project with its own funds because it believes strongly in the Cerritos market, said Thomas G. Irish, company president. The office vacancy rate in Cerritos is 6.8%, according to a report by CB Richard Ellis, which is marketing the new building to prospective tenants. Real estate experts say a vacancy rate of 10% or less usually indicates a strong enough demand to warrant the building of new office space.