The downturn in technology stocks is showing its ugly face in Ventura County, as the commercial real estate market during the first quarter began a slide that brokers fear will ultimately mean a 10 to 20 percent reduction in space absorption this year over 2000.

The countywide vacancy rate for industrial properties tightened a touch 6.9 percent in the first quarter compared to 7.1 percent in the previous quarter, according to CB Richard Ellis Inc. and area brokers are at best cautiously optimistic about market conditions. The gross absorption of industrial space was just under 1.2 million square feet in the first quarter, about the same as in the fourth quarter of 2000, as a return to basic manufacturing took up the slack of the faltering high-tech sector.

Several major industrial deals were completed during the quarter, leaving brokers confident that the vacancy rate in the current slowdown would not come close to the 12 to 15 percent that Ventura County endured in the early 1990s.

“Even if things slow down, I don’t see any drastic changes in pricing,” said Doug Shaw, vice president of industrial leasing at CB Richard Ellis. “There’s enough pent-up demand and need for space right now. There are no good bargains out there. In our area, things did not shut down like they did in Northern California. Activity is taking a dip, but the vacancy rate is still very low because there is not a lot of new construction. Developers are being very conservative because they learned from the mistakes of the late 1980s.”

Monthly industrial lease rates held steady during the past two quarters at 45 to 60 cents per square foot in the western portion of the county and 70 to 80 cents in the eastern county, CB Richard Ellis reported.

The countywide office vacancy rate also remained essentially flat, inching up to 9.6 percent in the first quarter, up from 9.5 percent at year-end 2000.

The rental rates for office space remained steady during the last two quarters, as east county space was leased at $2.10 to $2.55 per square foot, while west county space commanded $1.65 to $1.85 per square foot, according to CB Richard Ellis.

The retail vacancy rate increased countywide from 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter 2000 to 6.3 percent in the first quarter.

First-quarter activity was highlighted by New Focus Inc., a Silicon Valley electronics firm, which signed a 10-year lease for a 145,000-square-foot building at 5217 Camino Ruiz in Camarillo for $11.5 million, said Shaw.

Central Los Angeles Transfer, an investment group, acquired a 91,950-square-foot manufacturing building at 2100 Eastman Ave. in Oxnard for $4.4 million, in a deal brokered by CB Richard Ellis. The buyer, which already had an agreement to lease half of the space to the Frank Stubbs Co. garment manufacturers, promptly leased the other half to the Golf Sales West sporting goods company, according to Shaw.

In another first-quarter deal, Worldwide Sound, a car stereo equipment manufacturer, purchased a 70,272-square-foot manufacturing building at 3451 Lunar Court in Oxnard for $3.9 million.

Parker Hannifin Inc., a manufacturer of quick-disconnects fluid couplings used in the aerospace and auto racing industries, bought two adjacent buildings at 3400 and 3450 Calle Tecate in Camarillo totaling 79,500 square feet for an undisclosed amount. The buildings will be worth more than $5 million when tenant improvements are complete, said Grant Harris, a broker with Colliers Seeley Co., which represented the buyer.

In the office sector, Child Development Resources of Ventura County Inc. signed a 10-year lease for 60,000 square feet of space at 2500 Vineyard Ave. in Oxnard for about $12.6 million, while Elixir Technologies Corp. leased 21,000 square feet at 180 Canada Larga Road in Ventura in a five-year deal for approximately $1.7 million, according to Tom Dwyer, a CB Richard Ellis senior office broker.

Investor John Anderson, for whom the Anderson School of Business at UCLA is named, bought the North Ranch Executive Plaza, a 24,800-square-foot multi-tenant office building in Westlake Village, for $5.3 million.

And Carrier Access Corp., which provides broadband digital equipment solutions to communications service providers, signed a 4.5-year lease for $682,000 on a 14,382-square-foot office space at 160 Camino Ruiz in Camarillo.

Most of the other leases in Ventura County were for spaces of less than 10,000 square feet, brokers said.

Although the pace of leasing is slowing, demand for office space remains solid among non-high-tech businesses, they said.

“A lot of these companies are looking to relocate from the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles because Ventura County is a great place to live,” said Dwyer. “It’s a big quality-of-life issue.”