In the largest office lease in Orange County for the past 15 years and the largest in the submarket’s history, defense contractor Anduril Industries inked a 640,000-square-foot lease at The Press, a redevelopment project in Costa Mesa, according to Newmark. Invesco Real Estate and SteelWave own the facility.

Located on 19 acres at 1375 Sunflower Ave., the 450,000-square-foot building previously served as the Orange County press house/room for the Los Angeles Times. SteelWave and 5_Ronin are converting the property into office space at a redevelopment cost of approximately $200 million. EYRC Architects will design the project.

In addition to the existing structure, Anduril signed a lease for a 190,000-square-foot R&D building that will be added to the site. In total, the two facilities will house in upwards of 2,500 highly skilled employees, according to brokerage estimates.

Anduril's lease surpasses the former largest Orange County office lease on record, which was the 637,500-square-foot deal signed by Bank of America in 2011 for its Brea call center, according to CoStar. This trend toward Orange County will likely continue as companies begin turning attention away from congested and restrictive Los Angeles County.