News
NOT FAKING
July 30, 2012
| San Diego doesn't need false bravado from cheerleaders. (Save it for London.) It has plenty to crow about: office vacancy has fallen to its lowest level since mid-2008, and the industrial market has posted nine consecutive quarters of positive net absorption. |
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| We chatted with Voit Real Estate Services? Brian Mulvaney (flanked by fellow SVPs Randy LaChance and Michael Mossmer and their portal into Narnia behind them). Brian just sold a corporate HQ office buillding (9980 Carroll Canyon Rd) in Scripps Ranch to National University on behalf of a local developer and investor. (John Bucher Realty's John Bucher repped the buyer.) He tells us San Diego vacancy rates, both office and industrial, are trending down, and although rents are flat among most product types, they're starting to increase in some submarkets. He notes The Irvine Co controls a big portion of the UTC and Downtown, ?and they're starting to push their rents.? |
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| Beacon Capital's $152M purchase of the 642k SF San Diego Tech Center in Sorrento Mesa from MPG Office Trust and Charter Hall was one of the largest sale transactions in Q2. Brian says a ?good amount of sales? are occurring—institutional buyers are looking at San Diego, and medical providers like Sharp and Kaiser have done a number of acquisitions. With no new construction for the past few years, except for few-and-far-between projects like Hines' La Jolla Commons or the occasional build-to-suit, absorption is ticking up. |
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| The industrial sector, while not great, is starting to grow—and he's not talking about the drug tunnels (like the one above) that are discovered every three weeks coming up in a South Bay or Otay Mesa warehouse. (?Not in my clients? properties,? though.) Brian says that with more than its fair share of Nobel Prize winners, San Diego is more of a think tank area than a heavy manufacturing market. At one time, it boasted the most fiber of anywhere in the country (proving brokers and others here eat their oatmeal) and the most PC users per capita. |
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| According to Brian (with wife Tracy this month up in the Sierras), San Diego has the aloha spirit. Of course, it also has Comic-Con. Brian missed it this year because of out-of-town visitors but says the show is good for the community. ?We're expanding our convention center, and the main reason is to keep Comic-Con.? He's got a black belt in martial arts and likes to surf, kayak, and hike. His team at Voit is a sponsor of Partnerships with Industry, a San Diego nonprofit that helps employers find developmentally disabled adults and helps with its real estate. |
