Tim Morten, CEO and project director of Frost Giant Studios, needed a headquarters for his growing team of e-sport game designers, programmers and innovators.
His criteria: creativity, collaboration, Irvine.
“We really wanted to find a space that matched the creative sensibilities we have as a team,” Morten says.
He landed at Innovation Office Park, an open-air office village. The company is among the first to occupy the initial phase of the tree-studded campus, visible from I-5 at Sand Canyon Avenue. Amenities include electric roll-up doors, an open-air cafe, outdoor workspaces and an indoor/outdoor fitness center.
Frost Giant moved in this past year, and Morten’s vision of motivating employees with a creative, collaborative space is already paying dividends.
“We’ve got these amazing roll-up doors,” Cara LaForge, the firm’s business operations lead, says. “The sunshine pours through one end of the building with the breeze blowing in. It allows us to work with one another so much easier.”
The burgeoning company is now one of about 400 tech firms in the business community known as the Irvine Spectrum District. They’re part of a tech boom happening across Irvine, drawn especially to tech-centered office campuses, like Innovation Office Park.
“We’ve got these amazing roll-up doors. The sunshine pours through one end of the building with the breeze blowing in. It allows us to work with one another so much easier.” – Cara LaForge, Frost Giant
According to Indeed.com, more than half of Irvine’s open tech jobs pay over $100,000 in sectors like medical technology, cybersecurity, gaming, artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.
National real estate giant CBRE ranks Irvine and the surrounding region as the fastest-growing tech jobs market in North America, faster than perennial stalwarts like Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas.
“There’s a gravitational pull for companies to move here,” Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, says. “Large tech firms, in particular, are locating here to tap into recent graduates who are coming out of UC Irvine or other tech-centered universities.”
For leasing information about Innovation Office Park, visit irvinecompanyoffice.com.
AN OFFICE CAMPUS WITH 2,600 TREES
About 2,600 trees will be planted at Innovation Office Park when it’s complete, and each has a unique story.
Look for the old-growth ancient olive trees, named so because they come from the oldest groves in California. Many were planted more than 100 years ago, with some planted not long after Irvine Company was founded in 1864. These trees wear their age remarkably well, with graceful gnarls twisting upward to a sprawling green-gray canopy. Despite their age, they still have about another 100 years of life remaining.
Standing tall above the buildings are the Aleppo pines. While younger than the olives, their age is also important. These newly planted trees are about 25 years old now, far more mature than the typical trees planted in other cities. Known for their teardrop canopy, the Aleppo pines hail from the Mediterranean climes of southern France, Greece and Middle Eastern countries.
