The first in a two-part interview with Tom Greubel...
As companies plan their return to the workplace, having a safe environment for teams to connect and collaborate is essential. Irvine Company’s Airport Collection – seven distinctively modern workplaces near John Wayne Airport – do just this, thanks to the industry-leading wellness systems and innovative solutions that are already integrated into these workplaces.
We recently sat down with Tom Greubel, Vice President of Leasing, to learn how bold investments over the last three years mean the Airport Collection is uniquely suited to our new hybrid work world.
How do workplaces in the Airport Collection differ from neighboring office space?
We’re the only workplace provider to offer businesses everything they need to succeed today: employee safety, leasing flexibility, and space where teams want to be. For example, we offer leasing terms that align with our customers’ unique business priorities. As a forever owner, we reinvest in everything, from Wifi-powered outdoor workspace to industry-leading ventilation systems that help teams come together with confidence.
How is the Airport Collection different today than it was three years ago?
Continual reinvestment is part of our DNA. Pre-pandemic, we’d already made significant structural and design enhancements, including new lobbies, corridors, and bathrooms. We’d added robust amenities, innovative food options, and a dynamic outdoor space. Today, our open-air workspace includes Wifi, TV screens for meetings, outdoor event spaces, fire pits, game areas, and beautiful areas to relax and recharge. As companies prepare to come back to the workplace, these offerings make it easier for teams to return with confidence.
Which workplace has undergone the biggest transformation?
The Launch is a really interesting workplace that we completely reimagined. It was built in 1972 with floor-to-ceiling windows and no interior columns, something almost unheard of in modern workplace construction at the time. We took that incredible shell and applied award-winning architectural design. We added indoor and outdoor collaboration space, a KINETIC fitness center, and a meeting and event space. Today, The Launch is a magnet for creative businesses like SAA who find the space inspiring for their workforce. Mike Manser, the CEO of Source Creative Interiors, calls it “the most cutting-edge workplace in Orange County.”
We’re the only workplace provider to offer businesses everything they need to succeed today: employee safety, leasing flexibility, and space where teams want to be.
Thomas Greubel, Regional V.P. Leasing
Why do you refer to your Airport Area communities as a collection?
The Airport Collection holds a special place within Irvine Company. Other submarkets often have high concentrations of particular industries. But the convenient location of the Airport Area, so close to multiple freeways and John Wayne Airport, attracts a wide range of companies. As a result, we have seven workplaces within a relatively small geographical area, each with a distinct character. For example, Newport Gateway is a 12-acre campus with conveniences from a newly revitalized outdoor workspace to an on-site putting green. Pacific Arts Plaza is home to the Noguchi Sculpture Garden and adjacent to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The airport collection looked at as a whole really has something for everyone.
Our workplaces are also connected by transferable benefits, like an “All-Access Pass” to the best of Irvine Company. Customers at one workplace can use the amenities at any other location, including the submarket’s five KINETIC fitness centers, 10 meeting and event spaces, 29 in-community dining options, and a vast outdoor workspace.