The developers renovating San Diego's next creative space don't see much more room for more in the market. We spoke with Locale Advisors Jay Boyle (here with his family) who, with partner Phil Monroe, recently purchased 5825 Oberlin, a 60k SF horseshoe-shaped flex building in Sorrento Mesa from Emeri Group for nearly $11M. The duo plans to renovate the property to create a “true creative space” environment with private backyard and front yard areas called The Yard. That doesn't come cheap, but creative office rents warrant the move. “You're spending pretty big dollars up front that can get north of $100/SF at stabilization,” Jay says, adding that once you spent the capital up-front, it “operates more like an industrial project going forward, with minimal re-tenanting costs upon rollover due to the open configuration.”

Jay says they're not worried about demand in the immediate area—The Yard is in western Sorrento Mesa right by Qualcomm and it's a nexus of small creative and tech office users. But the question is where to go for the next creative office project—or whether there's even room for more in San Diego. “That's the hard part,” Jay says, admitting the sector is getting “crowded” in the city. “The demand for this type of space has definitely been seen,” he says. “But you've got to pick your battles wisely on what you pursue and ensure you have the right bones to execute this strategy."