1. John Kilroy Started Young

When John was 23, he found a Savings & Loan that had a piece of property it was preparing to write down. He traded some “loser” Arizona properties in exchange for the S&L's prime piece and he says the deal was a hit: The S&L avoided a costly write-down while John was able to strike a deal with an aerospace company for a 190k SF development, which allowed the company to flip the project for a $30M profit. John told the crowd at Bisnow's San Diego Investment Summit last week he thought it was cool he got that deal done so young.

2. Embrace the Downturns

John also says change is good. Especially the kind of change that comes with recessions. “The best opportunities in the world come in a downturn,” he says. John's advice for a future Kilroy CEO: “Don't spend time on your seat because you got to be out there with your finger on the pulse because things are changing so quickly.”

3: Full Steam Ahead

Our panel of commercial RE experts say there's little on the horizon that causes concern for San Diego's economy. John Hancock Real Estate's Parker Jones (left) says the central part of the county is the place to be, with technology and life sciences companies driving growth.

4. Retail Demand Is Strong

Sudberry Properties' Colton Sudberry (right) says there's very little retail vacancy left in San Diego. “If you got a well-located property…there's going to be demand for it.” And to emphasize the point, Kilroy's Jamas Gwilliam (left) told our audience of more than 350 commercial RE pros that in the week following the city's initial approval of One Paseo, “we had over 200 retail tenants call us. That's just a good flavor for how robust the economy is.”