What would you do with $420 million? Well, if you’re Los Angeles-based investment management firm Regent Properties, you invest that money into four high-rise commercial office buildings in downtown San Diego. The investment and development firm obtained four properties in the sale: 1 Columbia Place, 2 Columbia Place, 701 B Street, and 707 Broadway. These four properties represent a combined total of 1.5 million square feet, which is approximately 16 percent of all Class A and B offices in downtown San Diego.
At a total cost of $420 million, Regent paid approximately $281 per square foot. The acquisition also includes the 6th and A Parking Garage along with the four skyscrapers. This is just the beginning of Regent’s plan to purchase high-quality office projects “across the Sunbelt,” according to CEO of Regent Properties Eric Fleiss.
Over the course of the next two years, Regent is seeking to purchase over $2 billion worth of assets. Regent was interested in purchasing the San Diego office buildings as a long-term investment into the downtown area’s expected growth. Even with office vacancies still relatively high as California exits the pandemic, many investors are anticipating a large migration to the west coast in the coming years.
If you’re interested in condos in downtown San Diego, now may be the opportune time to make some moves. Whether you’re seeking a comfortable place to live, or a property that you can lease out, the demand for housing in the downtown area is going to skyrocket if investors’ projections are correctly calculated. The cost of a San Diego home is expected to increase by eight percent in 2021.
Regent hopes that the combination of San Diego’s coastal location coupled with storm public transportation and higher quality of life will continue to attract new businesses to the area. Currently, most of the new tenants occupying these office locations work in life sciences, but investors are welcoming tenants from a variety of different sectors. If you’re starting a business, rest assured there is currently office space available in downtown San Diego.