Koll Announces Decision To Close Local Office
Twin 10-Story Office Buildings in Mission Valley Sell for $85M
REAL ESTATE
by Mandy Jackson, Staff Writer
Despite its claim it just completed one of the company’s most profitable 24-month periods in history, Dallas-based Koll Development Co. is closing its San Diego office in order to streamline operations.
The news was part of an Oct. 7 announcement that the developer has named Mike Parker from its Northern California office president of Koll’s Western division.
“Koll Development Co. is much better positioned and better capitalized today than we’ve ever been,” Parker said in a company release.
“Our corporate streamlining will significantly strengthen our Koll presence in California,” he added.
Koll will consolidate its three California offices into two, in Danville and Irvine. The San Diego office at 4275 Executive Square in the University Towne Centre area of San Diego will close at the end of the year.
Steve Van Amburgh, president of Koll, said the economy has a lot to do with the consolidation of the San Diego and Orange County offices. The one office will serve both areas and will not affect services in San Diego County, Amburgh said.
Koll has developed more than 2.4 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space in San Diego County, including the 60-acre, 650,000-square-foot San Marcos Town Center, a retail and civic facility complex.
The local office has only two employees, according to Amburgh.
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Top Sale: Two 10-story, Class A office buildings in Mission Valley totaling 438,715 square feet have sold for $85.75 million to New York-based DRA Advisors Inc. and Florida-based Landmark Asset Management.
The deal had the largest sales price so far this year for a property with two buildings in San Diego County.
As part of the deal for Pacific Center I and II, the buyers assumed a loan balance of $28.5 million from Principal Mutual Life. The seller, Maier Sabel Baber, a San Francisco-based real estate investment advisory firm, was represented in the transaction by John Casey and Lynn LaChapelle of Burnham Real Estate Services. The buyers represented themselves.
The buildings, located at 1455 Frazee Road and 1615 Murray Canyon Road, share a six-story parking structure. The property is 90 percent occupied, with tenants such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Maxim Systems, URS Corp., CommonWealth Land Title, SeaWest Wind Power and Jefferson Pilot Communications.
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Web Preview: Bethesda, Md.-based CoStar Group recently previewed its Web-based CoStar Property product, which will officially launch Nov. 1, at its new West Coast operations center in UTC.
Andrew Florance, CEO of the company that provides leasing, sales and statistical information on industrial and office properties, introduced local commercial real estate brokers to CoStar’s new Web site Oct. 3.
Florance said updated building information in the current Windows format of CoStar Property is about five to 10 days old. But with the Web-based product, sales and leases will be entered into the database and available for brokers to see in real time.
According to Florance, CoStar spent $7 million to develop the new product with 30 to 40 software developers working on it for 18 months.
Florance said CoStar has 850 employees in 50 cities, about 200 of which are in San Diego. The company, which is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol CSGP, is profitable with no debt, he said.
The stock closed at $16.31 on Oct. 4. Its 52-week range was $16.01 to $26.10.
“As markets are added, our expenses go down,” Florance said.
Locally, CoStar has 250 companies as clients. According to Florance, that figure includes 21 of San Diego County’s top 24 brokerage firms.
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Three Sell: CarrAmerica Realty Corp., a Washington, D.C.-based office owner, developer and operator, has purchased the Carroll Vista Center in UTC for $24.6 million.
The 107,579-square-foot property consists of one biotech building and two office buildings, all of which are fully occupied. Tenants are Chugai Biopharmaceuticals, Cardiodynamics International Corp. and Peregrine Semiconductor Corp.
CarrAmerica represented itself in the transaction. Jay Borzi, Stephen R. Silk and Ted Papfer of Secured Capital Corp. represented the seller, CRV Partners LP, along with Tom Mercer and Kevin Craven of Colliers International.
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Penta Lease: San Diego-based Bio Hydration Research Lab Inc., the manufacturer of Penta water, has signed a 10-year lease for 110,881 square feet at 2091 Rutherford Road in Carlsbad worth $9.8 million.
Tim Rikkers of Voit Commercial Brokerage represented the lessee. Larry Jackel, Rob Gunness and Matt Strockis of CB Richard Ellis represented the property’s owner, RREEF, a national real estate investment adviser.
Bio Hydration will use the space for offices, research and development and manufacturing of Penta water.
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Training Facility Completed: Locally based JVB Construction Management Inc. served as the county’s construction manager for the recently completed administration building for the Regional Firearms Training Center in Otay Mesa.
Milo Architectural Group Inc. of San Diego designed the 22,000-square-foot building, which includes administrative offices, five classrooms and a 350-seat auditorium. The Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will use the facility.
A 14,000-square-foot simunitions building for simulated training exercises is under construction nearby.
Contractors included specialists from the Army, the Sheriff’s Inmate Construction Trades training program and private contractors. John C. Stevenson Architects and Kevin Rugee Architects, both from San Diego, also contributed to the project.
Send residential and commercial real estate news to Jackson via fax at (858) 571-3628 or via e-mail at
mjackson@sdbj.com.
Call her at (858) 277-6359, Ext. 114.