News

Construction is finished on AMP&RSAND, a 330k sf, Class A creative office center located on San Diego Union-Tribune’s former headquarters in the Mission Valley area of San Diego. The project, a development of Casey Brown Company, was built by C.W. Driver Companies.

The redevelopment of the 13-acre campus included a major overhaul of a five-story office tower and a three-story industrial/office building. Each consists of 165k sf, creating a modern and highly amenitized office complex. The re-imagined spaces incorporate the outdoors with parks throughout the property and along the adjacent San Diego River.

The three-story building originally held the Union-Tribune’s printing plant and was built to withstand the heavy load of printing presses and other equipment. Faced with all brick exterior and concrete interior elements, C.W. Driver Companies was tasked with cutting through the thick composition to open interiors to more natural light, adding new large glass windows and doors.

“Preserving a piece of San Diego’s past while reshaping it for modern use was an exciting endeavor,” said C.W. Driver Project Director Andy Feth. “We were given the opportunity to flex our muscles as contractors, as this project required us to use specialty equipment to cut through the original heavy design elements, while ensuring the integrity of the structure and the safety of our workers throughout the process.”

Designed by Wolcott Architecture, the AMP&RSAND redevelopment project brings the two dated buildings, originally designed and constructed in 1973, into the new era by incorporating modern design elements that pay homage to the property’s unique past. Thirteen-foot ceilings and new oversized windows bring in natural light, while the interior design creates an industrial loft-style feel with exposed brick, concrete pillars and polished concrete floors.

The creative work space also incorporates the surrounding landscape to encourage working outdoors. The property now features nine patios and 64k sf of outdoor collaborative space, in addition to an amphitheater for multi-function gatherings.

A massive ficus tree planted by a former owner of the Union-Tribune, Helen Copley, was preserved in the redesign process and now serves as a prominently featured central meeting space. Called the Treehouse, the unique space includes hanging chairs, hammocks and creative meeting areas. Other on-site amenities include a craft coffee café, indoor/outdoor fitness studio with spa-like lockers and showers for tenants, concierge services such as valet parking and a bike center that offers repair services and ride-sharing bikes.

Casey Brown Company acquired the Union-Tribune property in 2015 for $52 mil from Doug Manchester, the former publisher of the newspaper. The property is named for the ampersand character, which is the last figure in the typesetter’s alphabet and the last character printed when the Union-Tribune shut down its presses in 2016.

C.W. Driver Cos. has completed Ampersand, a 330,000-square-foot Class A creative office complex at the former site of the San Diego Union-Tribune in Mission Valley.

The 13-acre campus at 350 Camino de la Reina was completely transformed, including a major overhaul of a five-story office tower and a three-story industrial/office building.

“The re-imagined spaces incorporate the outdoors with parks throughout the property and along the adjacent San Diego River,” C.W. Driver stated.

Designed by Wolcott Architecture, Ampersand includes 13-foot ceilings, new oversized windows for natural light, and an industrial loft-style feel with exposed brick, concrete pillars and polished concrete floors.
The three-story building originally held the Union-Tribune’s printing plant and was built to withstand the heavy load of printing presses and other equipment. The office tower was for the U-T’s editorial staff.

“Preserving a piece of San Diego’s past while reshaping it for modern use was an exciting endeavor,” C.W. Driver project director Andy Feth said in a statement. “We were given the opportunity to flex our muscles as contractors, as this project required us to use specialty equipment to cut through the original heavy design elements, while ensuring the integrity of the structure and the safety of our workers throughout the process.”

The creative work space also incorporates the surrounding landscape to encourage working outdoors. The property now features nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space, in addition to an amphitheater for multi-function gatherings.

A massive ficus tree planted by the late former owner of the Union-Tribune, Helen Copley, was preserved in the redesign process and now serves as a prominently featured central meeting space.

Called the Treehouse, the unique space includes hanging chairs, hammocks and creative meeting areas. Other on-site amenities include a craft coffee café, indoor/outdoor fitness studio with spa-like lockers and showers for tenants, concierge services, and a bike center that offers repair services and ride-sharing bikes.

Ampersand owner and developer Casey Brown Co. paid $52 million in 2015 to acquire the complex from former U-T publisher Douglas Manchester. The old complex was built in the early 1970s.

The newly redeveloped property is named for the ampersand character, which is the last figure in the typesetter’s alphabet and the last character printed when the Union-Tribune shut down its presses in 2016.

Ampersand is within walking distance to the Fashion Valley Mall, Fashion Valley Trolley Station and transit center, Hazard Center and popular dining, retail and entertainment options.

C.W. Driver Cos. is a multifaceted builder that is nearing its 100 anniversary in 2019. The California firm works across a broad spectrum of industries, including education, commercial/office, technology, health care/biomedical, mixed-use, assisted living, entertainment, retail, industrial and civic projects.

C.W. Driver Companies on Tuesday celebrated the completion of Ampersand, a 330,000-square-foot office center located on the former site of the San Diego Union-Tribune in Mission Valley.

The redevelopment of the 13-acre campus included a major overhaul of a five-story office tower and a three-story industrial/office building. Each consists of 165,000 square feet. Re-imagined spaces incorporate the outdoors with parks throughout the property and along the adjacent San Diego River.

The three-story building originally held the Union-Tribune’s printing plant and was built to withstand the heavy load of printing presses and other equipment. Faced with all brick exterior and concrete interior elements, C.W. Driver Companies was tasked with cutting through the thick composition to open interiors to more natural light, adding new large glass windows and doors.

Designed by Wolcott Architecture, the Ampersand redevelopment project brings the two dated buildings, originally designed and constructed in 1973, into the new era by incorporating modern design elements that pay homage to the property’s unique past. Thirteen-foot ceilings and new oversized windows bring in natural light, while the interior design creates an industrial loft-style feel with exposed brick, concrete pillars and polished concrete floors.

The creative work space also incorporates the surrounding landscape to encourage working outdoors. The property now features nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space, in addition to an amphitheater for multi-function gatherings.

A massive ficus tree planted by a former owner of the Union-Tribune, Helen Copley, was preserved in the redesign process and now serves as a prominently featured central meeting space. Called the Treehouse, the unique space includes hanging chairs, hammocks and creative meeting areas. Other on-site amenities include a craft coffee café, indoor/outdoor fitness studio with spa-like lockers and showers for tenants, concierge services such as valet parking and a bike center that offers repair services and ride-sharing bikes.

Ampersand owner and developer Casey Brown Company acquired the Union-Tribune property in 2015 for $52 million from Doug Manchester, the former publisher of the newspaper. The property is named for the ampersand character, which is the last figure in the typesetter’s alphabet and the last character printed when the Union-Tribune shut down its presses in 2016.

(Editor’s Note: “30” has been traditionally used by journalists in North America to indicate the end of a story.)

Encore Capital Group is the first tenant to sign a lease at Ampersand, a 340,000-square-foot creative office conversion project in the former San Diego Union-Tribune building. The Casey Brown Co. is repurposing the property into a creative office campus with ample amenities and outdoor space. While the developer wasn’t targeting a specific industry for the project, the financial company’s interest illustrates the increasing interest for highly amenitized and designed office space across industry types. Encore signed a 95,000-square-foot ground floor lease in the project.

“We all like to be able to put things in a box, but we were really trying to attract tenants that have a focus on productivity and on the health and wellness of their employees,” Casey Brown, principal of The Casey Brown Co, tells GlobeSt.com. “That is the real reason why a tenant would choose Ampersand as their home. They need to be companies that have that focus, and there are economic reasons for that. When you lose an employee, it costs money to replace them. This is a project where employees will be proud of and that guests will be in awe of.”
Encore is the first tenant in the project and will likely be the largest as well. “I’m not surprised that a tenant of 100,000 square feet leased the space,” adds Brown. “Our vision is that there will be 10 to 15 tenants in this project, and those might range from 100,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet.”

With a financial company as a major tenant in the building, “creative” might be an erroneous term to describe the project. Instead, the Casey Brown Co. is a focusing on the employee experience. There is 65,000 square feet of communal outdoor space on the campus and loading docks designed to serve as outdoor meeting space. Many of the office spaces have outdoor patios, and the developer included murals from a local artist. Then, there are the amenities: a 5,000-square fitness studio, an outdoor multifunctional amphitheater, craft coffee, a café, concierge services, valet services and EV parking onsite. These features are all meant to enhance the employee experience, and today, when quality talent is a commodity, is important to every company. “Creative is almost worn out, but if we look at it, it is really about a tailored experience and creating something more than a plywood desk,” says Brown. “This is a well-done project where we really took everything out and started over.”
This is not the only newspaper conversion project. There are several examples in other major California and West Coast markets, and this space was ideal to repurpose as creative office. “This is a well-recognized, iconic building. There is a heck of a story with this project,” adds Brown. “This is a large piece of property, and there are 140,000 square feet of office space in two building. It is extremely well built, and the location is Main-and-Main as it relates to the center of the county.”

Encore Capital Group has signed a lease and will move its headquarters to Ampersand, the former home of the San Diego Union-Tribune site, which has been renovated by the Casey Brown Co.

Encore Capital Group, the international specialty finance company, is consolidating its two offices in Mission Valley and will occupy the entire third floor and a portion of the ground floor in the project, occupying a total of approximately 95,000 square feet. Tenant improvements on their new space are slated to begin this fall.

Ampersand is a campus consisting of 340,000 square feet, featuring two interconnected buildings, at 350 Camino de la Reina. The repositioned, five-story office tower is where editors and journalists once published the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper and the adjacent three-story building housed their printing presses. The interior design has an industrial loft-style feel, featuring exposed brick, concrete pillars, 14-foot ceilings along with floor-to-ceiling glass windows

The campus features nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space, and 5,000 square feet is dedicated to a fitness studio. Other amenities include an outdoor multifunctional amphitheater, craft coffee, a café, concierge services, valet services and EV parking onsite. The campus also boasts additional outdoor spaces and parks both within and between the buildings and along the San Diego River.

CBRE represented the Casey Brown Co. Colliers International represented Encore Capital in the lease transaction.

Following a $40-million overhaul, the 330,000-square-foot creative office campus at 350 Camino de la Reina — the former home of the Union-Tribune — is officially open for business. Developer the Casey Brown Company said this week that it has secured its first tenant, who will occupy around 95,000 square feet of space at the remodeled 13-acre site in Mission Valley, now called Ampersand.

Financial services company, Encore Capital Group, has leased the entire third floor, which spreads across the five-story building on the east and is connected by bridge to the three-floor former printing plant on the west. Encore has also taken a portion of the reconfigured first floor of the east building.

Built in 1973, the U-T building was purchased by the developer in 2015 for $52 million. Today, Ampersand pays homage to its storied history with the old, recognizable brick exterior and concrete shell of the original building still in place. Otherwise the two structures have been gutted and reconfigured in the hopes that the site, located alongside Interstate 8 and state Route 163, will appeal to modern companies and their young workers.

Amenities range from an abundance of outdoor space — 64,000 square feet spread across the property — to an 8,000 square-foot, indoor-outdoor fitness center that should feel more like a spa than an office gym. Other notable features include 14-foot-high windows, bikes for every tenant, and a ground-floor cafe serving gourmet coffee and grab-and-go food items.

Additionally, two large, interpretative murals, created by Los Angeles-based painter John Park, book-end the courtyard of the printing press building, attempting to artfully connect past and present with bright blue, purple and yellow hues.

Encore is consolidating their two offices in Mission Valley for a single headquarters at Ampersand. It will get a non-exclusive building sign on the five-story structure.

It is the first of an estimated 10 to 15 businesses in finance, tech and healthcare industries that will eventually call the repurposed office park home, said John Kenney, principal at the Casey Brown Company.

The lead tenant will make its interior improvements this fall. The publicly traded company, which buys consumer debt, is expected to take up residence in April of next year.

The enormity of the Encore commitment allows the developer to break up the campus’ remaining space into lease-able chunks as small as 10,000 square feet and as large as 125,000 square feet, said chief executive Casey Brown.

“We were really looking for that type of anchor tenant,” he said.

The firm and its leasing agency, CBRE, are expecting to reach 90 percent occupancy in the next 18 months. In that time, they also hope to secure a notable tech client to take the first floor of the press building and the second floor of both buildings. They’ve carved out an industrial-style loft with 30-foot ceilings in the north-west portion of the press building, and envision it linked by a large floating staircase to the second floor space for an open and connected unit spanning 125,000 square feet.

Ultimately the tech taker, should there be one, will need to be sold on the broader Mission Valley location just as much as the Ampersand property itself. Not considered one of the city’s premier employment centers, Mission Valley is in the midst of a residential, commercial and hospitality renaissance that, when realized, could elevate the region’s appeal.

Most significant is the redevelopment prospects of the 166-acre former Qualcomm Stadium site, which could result in housing, commercial projects and a public park along the San Diego River. That depends on whether voters support or reject ballot measures E or G this November. There are also several major Mission Valley projects planned or already in the works, including a $70 million makeover of the Town and Country resort, the substantial 230-acre Civita residential and retail project, and the eventual redevelopment of the Riverwalk golf course.

“Things are changing,” Brown said, referencing the hundreds of millions of dollars in real-estate investment going into the west side of Mission Valley.

The if-you-build-it, they-will-come mentality is still a bit rosy. With office environments used as employee recruitment and retention tools, employers put a lot of stock in neighborhood perks. But Brown and Kenney think they’ve outfitted Ampersand with enough extras to help prospective tenants fill in any holes left blank by the surrounding area.

Developers have billions of dollars riding on current and proposed Mission Valley projects featuring new sports facilities, offices, apartments, retail and riverfront recreational elements.

Most are in preliminary planning stages, but all will have to pass muster with residents, businesses and city planners long concerned about chronic traffic congestion and pedestrian non-friendliness in this central San Diego submarket.

San Diego city officials recently certified more than 106,000 ballot initiative signatures gathered by a group called Friends of SDSU, meaning that voters will likely be deciding this fall on a proposal to turn the Mission Valley stadium site that formerly housed the NFL’s Chargers into a new western campus of San Diego State University.

Plans call for sports, office, academic, housing, civic and possibly other mixed-use commercial elements on a 166-acre, city-owned site, which would be acquired by the University if voters give their blessing. Development costs have not been announced.

SDSU West is not only the second project put forward for the stadium property – a group known as FS Investors has a soccer stadium-centric, mixed-use project also heading for a November vote – but just one of several other major planned developments that could significantly transform commercial real estate offerings in Mission Valley in the coming years.

Furthest along is the $65 million Amp&rsand, Casey Brown Co.’s creative-office redevelopment of a two-building complex that formerly housed newsroom and printing operations of the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, which moved to a downtown high-rise in 2016 after more than 40 years in Mission Valley.

John Kenney, principal at Casey Brown, told CoStar News that the 330,000-square-foot project is set for delivery this summer after two years of construction on the site near Interstate 8.

Like the former Union-Tribune complex, much of Mission Valley’s office inventory dates back to the 1970s and 1980s. Kenney said Amp&rsand – the name is a tribute to the last impression made by the Union-Tribune’s printing presses at that location – represents the first ground-up offering of large, modern-day offerings in Mission Valley, along the lines of recent office projects that have already gone up elsewhere in San Diego.

The project includes removing the roof to let light into the old printing plant, turning existing landscaping into more usable indoor-outdoor gathering spots, and adding eateries and other upcoming on-site amenities that have become competitive necessities for landlords seeking to lure younger-skewing corporate tenants.

“Right now there really isn’t much in the way of creative office space in Mission Valley,” Kenney said. “We think that’s going to be a big draw.”

Kenney and the developer’s leasing broker at Amp&rsand, Matt Carlson with CBRE Group Inc., said talks are ongoing with numerous potential tenants that were not being disclosed. Carlson said the final tenant mix is likely to reflect Mission Valley as a whole, including industries such as technology, law and financial services, and the goal is to attract at least one large tenant that helps serve as a catalyst that itself draws in other small- and medium-sized occupants.

Carlson said developers are looking to attract young company executives and workers drawn to a transit-friendly environment, similar to downtown San Diego, and seeking to minimize current commutes to places like Sorrento Mesa and North County. Like downtown to its south, Mission Valley has numerous trolley stops, a well-established office base, and a long history of mixed-use development.

“Outside of the downtown urban core, there aren’t a lot of places in San Diego where residents want to see density, and Mission Valley already has it,” said Carlson, who is marketing Amp&rsand with CBRE’s Ryan Grant and Jeff Oesterblad.

Amp&rsand will span 13 acres at 350 Camino De La Reina. Kenney said Casey Brown has obtained entitlements for 130 apartments on the site, and construction could go forward early next year.

Not far from Amp&rsand, Casey Brown Co. is also nearing completion on a $6 million renovation of the Mission Valley office high-rise now called Tower 591 and long known informally as the TD Ameritrade building. Work is expected to conclude this spring at the property, formerly known as Valley Corporate Center at 591 Camino De La Reina.

The property was originally built in 1972 and was part of a two-property portfolio purchased by Casey Brown for $63.1 million in January 2017, according to CoStar data.

See CoStar COMPS #3821913.
The renovation includes a new entrance and updated lobby, café and fitness center, with new common-area finishes and outdoor lounge seating areas. JLL broker Brandt Riedman, who is handling leasing at Tower 591 with the firm’s Richard Gonor and Tony Russell, said talks are ongoing with numerous potential tenants not yet being named.

Riedman said Tower 591, which is currently about 75 percent occupied, should compete well in Mission Valley, where office availabilities of 10,000 square feet and larger have become tough to find.

The transit-friendly Mission Valley submarket, with several trolley stops near its existing retail centers and mixed-use apartment complexes, sits in the geographic center of San Diego. But it also has several major freeways passing through it, making it tough to navigate during daily rush hours and even tougher during the peak Christmas holiday retail season, when shoppers flock to popular regional malls including Simon Property’s Group’s Fashion Valley and Westfield Corp.’s Mission Valley Mall.

Because of those longtime congestion headaches, the city is proceeding cautiously on an updating of the community plan for Mission Valley, which hasn’t been fully revised in more than 30 years.

Projects that haven’t yet broken ground will be subject to thorough public deliberations, as the city aims to boost its scarce supply of housing while enhancing recreational opportunities along the San Diego River and giving pedestrians wider and safer access to trolley stations and commercial centers.

In addition to the dueling stadium proposals heading for this year’s ballot, Mission Valley projects in early planning include developer Hines’ upcoming redevelopment of the 200-acre Riverwalk Golf Course, which could be replaced by elements including more than 4,000 housing units, 1 million square feet of office space, a new river park and a new trolley station. Hines has yet to present formal plans to the city but has estimated the cost at $2 billion.

Adjacent to that site, operator Atlas Hotels and developer Lowe Enterprises are working on a complete overhaul of the 60-year-old Town & Country Resort and Convention Center. That $70 million project was announced several years ago and since revised to include more than 800 new residential units, though recent delays were reported over labor and environmental issues.

San Diego — As he walked through the hollowed-out shell that once was the Mission Valley home of The San Diego Union-Tribune, Casey Brown reminisced about what it once was.

“When I was in the third grade, I took a tour of this building,” Brown said.

That was soon after the Union-Tribune moved from downtown San Diego.

As the new owner of what’s been renamed Ampersand, Brown’s firm, The Casey Brown Co., is transforming the newspaper’s former two-building campus into a top-of-the line office complex with amenities few other office buildings can match.

“There’s nothing else like this,” said Matt Carlson, senior vice president of CBRE, which is handling leasing of the 330,000 square feet of office space that’s being created in Ampersand.

“You really have to see it to understand it.”

Working with Carlson as part of the CBRE leasing team are Ryan Grant and Jeff Oesterblad.

The Casey Brown Co. is the owner of the buildings and the overall developer. The general contractor is CW Driver.

Most of the work on the more than $40 million project is finished.

Plans to Sign Leases in May

As of mid-February, John Kenney, principal with The Casey Brown Co., estimated 60 percent to 70 percent was done, with plans to begin signing leases with tenants in May so they could start interior construction work on the space they’ll use by summer.

At peak construction, as many as 250 people worked on the project at any one time, Brown said.

Ampersand is part of a surge of new developments either under way or planned in Mission Valley.

The projects include competing redevelopment plans for the 233-acre former Qualcomm stadium from San Diego State University and FS Investors’ SoccerCity and Sudberry Properties’ 230-acre Civita master-planned community.

The name for the former Union-Tribune complex, Ampersand, was picked to recognize its newspaper history, Brown said.
An ampersand is the last figure in a typesetter’s alphabet.

When the Union-Tribune stopped its presses for the final time in 2016, an ampersand was the last character printed.

“It’s not marking an end, but a beginning,” Brown said.

The new beginning starts at the front door to the five-story former newsroom building on the east end of the site.

The lobby has been moved from the north end of the structure to the west side, opening into a courtyard that’s being created between what was the newsroom and the press buildings.

The courtyard will have outdoor work spaces and space to just relax and hang out, along with a small outdoor amphitheater that seats about 30 people.

The interior of the newsroom building has been gutted to expose walls and ceilings.

Letting in the Daylight

The 14-foot ceilings with windows on all sides gives the edifice lots of daylight — itself an amenity which tenants seek as the aim to attract a millennial workforce, Carlson said.

“The whole idea is tenants want plenty of floor space,” he said.

There’s plenty of that, with floor plates of 35,000 square feet in the news building.

Thanks to glassed-in walkways that connect the two buildings on the second and third floors, tenants have the option of taking over an entire floor on those two levels to get a combined work space of 85,000 square feet, Carlson said.

The interior will be left unfinished, with exposed brick walls and ceilings.

“Folks will do their own tenant improvements,” he said.

‘Tree House’

A small outdoor patio to the rear of the news building is being remodeled into what’s been billed as “the tree house” to show off a large ficus tree at the south end.

“Mrs. Copley planted that tree,” said Carlson, referring to the late Union-Tribune owner Helen Copley.

Although not yet in place, the plan is to hang hammocks and hammock-like chairs from the tree and place soft furniture around the patio.

As striking as the changes are to the newsroom building, the renovation of the former press building is even more remarkable.

The presses were removed at the outset. Some went to South America, but there was no real market for most of them, so they went to scrap, Carlson said.

The press building itself has been completely reshaped into a large U, with the roof removed and floor-to-ceiling windows carved out of the brick walls, using a giant saw specially made for that purpose because the walls were so thick.

“This was a very cool and interesting thing to watch,” Carlson said. “The blade was like four feet in diameter and there were custom tracks built along the wall.”
The saw moved along the tracks as it cut through the wall.

A new glassed-in walkway “sky room” connecting the two buildings on the top floor is wide enough to have conference rooms built in along the way, depending on what tenants want.

Nine patios ring both buildings, and there’s a 5,000 square-foot fitness center on the first floor of the press building and a café on the north side of the
structure.

Residential Possibilities?

Plans also call for the complex to include a bicycle center, with lockers and parts for minor repairs.

Longer term, Casey Brown said he has tentative plans to build a 140-unit apartment complex on the north end of the site along the San Diego River, but the timing will depend on how other nearby apartment complexes fare.

“There’s a lot of apartments being built. We’ll see how they do,” Brown said.

San Diego’s strong office market has attracted new development in recent years and some of those projects are now coming to fruition.

But in a competitive office environment, these projects have to go beyond the ordinary, pushing for more innovation in what they have to offer tenants. This includes exercise facilities, indoor-outdoor spaces and luxury businesses and amenities.

Ampersand, in Mission Valley, is an example of an office property that incorporates high-end lifestyle experiences and modern design elements with everyday office functions. It is the largest block of contiguous Class-A space in San Diego County, is set on 13 acres and features two buildings totaling 330K SF. The campus is walking distance to Fashion Valley Mall and the trolley at State Route 163 and Interstate 8.

“The campus is being designed for collaboration and function,” CBRE Senior Vice President and Ampersand lead broker Matt Carlson said.

“The lofty and bright feel of the interiors is what top users are looking for in today’s marketplace.” He said the campus has nine outdoor patios, a gym, a craft coffee café, valet parking and concierge service.

Ampersand occupies the former San Diego Union-Tribune office and press buildings. Carlson said the new design incorporates elements from the old.

“The office building has large 40K SF floor plates with high ceilings that allow for flexibility and great abundant light with full-height glass windows,” he said. “It also features a large ficus tree that shades an outdoor patio where we plan to install hammocks, hanging chairs and an outdoor conference work area.

“The Press building [former printing press] has been completely changed.”

He said the owners removed the center portion of the roof where the three-story presses once stood and installed a large interior courtyard and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Large industrial windows and doors bring in the light and allow access to the different outdoor patios.

Despite a slower fourth quarter, San Diego’s office sector had a strong 2017 overall, according to a report released by CBRE. Last year reached record low vacancy rates and record high asking rates and many submarkets were trending positively. The vacancy rate has remained below 12% for five consecutive quarters.

New deliveries in Q4 totaled 120,436 SF, including 60K SF at North City in San Marcos and the 32,336 SF office portion of the newly renovated and expanded Westfield UTC. CBRE fully occupied the Westfield space to embrace a mixed-use setting.

The CBRE report highlights two other office projects that broke ground in late 2017: the 175K SF office portion of the Watermark site in Scripps Ranch, which will be mostly occupied by MedImpact, and a 33K SF creative office building in Carlsbad.

Like Ampersand, the Watermark project will feature amenities meant to draw tenants.

“This is a truly integrated project that is amenity-rich, has great walkability and there is no other property like this in the I-15 corridor,” Senior Vice President at CBRE and lead broker Rob Merkin said of the project spearheaded by San Diego real estate development company Sudberry Properties.

Set on 5.17 acres, Watermark Building 2 will include a large outdoor courtyard for casual meetings, social gatherings and exercise. The office component and first building — a 154K SF building for MedImpact — was completed in 2010, before Sudberry came into the picture. The two buildings will be connected by a pedestrian bridge.

Future tenants include Whole Foods, The Element Hotel, Sur La Table, The Lot, Home Goods, TJ Maxx, an English pub/sports bar and a fitness component. Watermark is also being designed to accommodate outdoor concerts, holiday festivities, seasonal fashion previews and Oktoberfests, among other events, Merkins said.

Landlords are having to get creative to fulfill large-space tenant requirements, and so are converting existing properties into high-amenity office space, according to a JLL report. Such projects include former industrial spaces, including AeroValut in Kearny Mesa, the HP Campus and the Summit Rancho Bernardo in the Interstate 15 corridor, as well as the Atlas at Carlsbad. The report noted occupying former industrial spaces had specific benefits, like being able to retain high power and overhead doors that corporate headquarters need.

Another notable 2017 delivery was Illumina’s August opening of its 316K SF i3 campus in University Towne Center. Its initial use will be as office space, though it was designed with the flexibility to transform all or part of the space for research use. The property is considered a bellwether for the biotech industry, which is one of the main sectors driving San Diego’s office growth.

Technology, defense and life science were the main drivers during 2017 and should continue to be this year, said Brett Ward, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield’s Office Division in San Diego.

“Despite some fluctuations earlier this year, we expect the ongoing momentum from 2017 to carry into 2018 as a result of continued expected job and economic growth in conjunction with further robust tenant demand,” he said. “A number of large tenants who have executed leases but have not yet taken occupancy will further boost absorption in future quarters.”

San Diego — Mission Valley is hot.

As a place for office and apartment development, Mission Valley had never really been cold, but with two plans facing off for redevelopment of the former Qualcomm Stadium and renovation of the former San Diego Union-Tribune building nearing completion, some brokers said it’s drawing even more attention.

“This is arguably the most competitive office leasing market in the county,” said Derek Applbaum, first vice president of Colliers International San Diego.

Vacancy rates have dropped below 10 percent, and the rents property owners are seeking are at or have exceeded what they were before the recession in 2006 or 2007, Applbaum said.

Competing proposals from San Diego State University and La Jolla-based FS Investors’ SoccerCity for redevelopment of the 233-acre stadium site “has really heated up the conversation and the PR (public relations) on the Mission Valley market,” said Richard Gonor, executive vice president of the brokerage firm JLL.

Both proposals are slated to go before voters on the November ballot. If voters approve both projects, the one with the most votes wins.

Regardless of which plan wins, “new development on that site is going to be a great thing for Mission Valley,” said Matt Carlson, senior vice president of CBRE.

Further heightening interest is the $35 million renovation of the former Union-Tribune building, renamed Ampersand, at Interstate 8 and state Route 163, along with the ongoing development of Civita, a 230-acre community master-planned by Sudberry Properties.

Most recently, The New Home Co. in July announced plans for a 133-unit development dubbed Promontory at Civita. The project will include one-story and three-story attached homes.

Plans also have started to gel for the redevelopment of the 200-acre Riverwalk golf course.

The $2 billion golf course redevelopment calls for about 4,000 housing units, up to 1 million square feet of office space, and an 80-acre river park.

The two-building Ampersand complex, which includes a five-story office tower, is due for completion in the second quarter of 2018.

Modernization in the Market

“I think this is all good,” said Applbaum. “The market is one of the oldest submarkets in the county. To see some modernization to the market is going to be helpful.”

With demand high, building owners are upgrading their Mission Valley property, leading to what some brokers said is a gentrification of office space as landords remodel older buildings — a trend that’s likely to continue.

Like redevelopment of the stadium site, Riverwalk is several years away, but several smaller projects also are in the works, said Kevin Mulhern, a senior vice president of CBRE who specializes in multifamily property.

Projects cited by Mulhern include a 309-unit project by The Dinerstein Cos. — Millennium Mission Valley — on Camino Del Rio North, a 284-unit planned by Trammell Crow Residential, and a 300-unit complex still in the early planning stages across from Fashion Valley mall.

Several small Mission Valley properties also have changed hands recently.

“There’s quite a bit happening,” said Carlson of CBRE, which is handling Ampersand leasing.

“A lot of people have targeted Mission Valley as kind of a renaissance office opportunity.”

The Apartment Market

Just as Mission Valley is attractive for office rentals, it’s also a hot market for apartments and condominiums.

As rental rates for downtown apartments have increased, Mission Valley as one of the region’s most urban submarkets, is becoming the place to go, especially for millennials, who want an urban environment with lots of dining and entertainment venues.

“It seems like a lot of the renters, particularly the younger part of the demographic, they don’t want to live in suburbia, they want action,” said CBRE’s Mulhern.

Mission Valley also is attracting people from Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach, where apartment rentals are getting pricier.

The Traffic Problem

Some say one potential drawback to Mission Valley could be traffic.

“The biggest challenge is the access in and out of the (Mission Valley) market with individual cars, how is that going to be affected,” said Applbaum of Colliers. “That’s really the biggest question, how is transportation going to work in and out of the market in the future?”

The answer, Applbaum said, is likely to be more reliance on public transportation with easy access to the trolley and development of driverless cars.

“That is where I think we’re going to be headed,” Applbaum said.

Traffic always is a concern, but Mulhern said the trolley gives Mission Valley a big advantage over other submarkets, where public transportation is limited or unavailable.

That advantage will increase when the trolley line is extended to University City, giving people who live in Mission Valley more options for getting to work and school.

“That’s going to be huge,” Mulhern said.

San Diego — The rapid growth of tech companies, along with their voracious appetite for more and more space in the hottest submarkets in San Diego and elsewhere is driving up office rent prices in neighboring submarkets.

The willingness of tech companies to pay a premium for office space in Sorrento Mesa and downtown San Diego is starting to affect rental rates in Rancho Bernardo, University Town Center (UTC), and Carlsbad, according to CBRE, a commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Tenants in Sorrento Mesa, which CBRE pegged as San Diego’s top tech submarket, pay a premium of 3.3 percent compared to the broader market, CBRE reported in its annual Tech-30 report.
“If tech companies that are used to paying a premium for space in the top tech submarkets are forced to move to adjacent submarkets in order to expand, we could start to see significant rent growth in those more traditional markets as well,” said Colin Yasukochi, CBRE’s director of research who wrote the report.

Other Options

“Traditionally, Sorrento Mesa has been the top tech market in San Diego. However, we are seeing the majority of new development and redevelopment emerging in tech markets such as Mission Valley, downtown and UTC,” said Matt Carlson, senior vice president of CBRE in San Diego.

“People are spreading out and looking for opportunity,” he said. “If there’s a highly amenitized, well located campus, even if it’s more off the beaten path, there’s probably a market for it.”
Carlson said conversion of the former San Diego Union-Tribune building in Mission Valley is a prime example.

The two-building complex — called Ampersand — at Interstate 8 and state Route 163 has been gutted in a $35 million project that will transform it with outdoor terraces, a gym, a craft coffee café, valet parking and concierge services.

Plans also call for nine patios, outdoor collaborative space and an amphitheater.

“This suburban urban location is attractive to tech tenants because of where it is situated, but also because of the wide variety of on campus and other walkable amenities,” Carlson said. “Tech tenants are now looking for amenity-rich campuses, similar to Ampersand in Mission Valley.”

If a building has what they’re looking for, tech companies are willing to pay the higher rents as they compete for talent, said Ron Miller, senior vice president of Colliers International in San Diego, a brokerage firm.

$5 Rents

Among examples Miller cited were GoPro, which he said leased 45,000 square feet of space in the former San Diego International Exchange Building in Carlsbad for more than $5 per square foot, and Tsunami, a developer of virtual reality systems that he said recently leased 35,000 square feet of space in Torrey Point office campus in Carmel Valley, also for more than $5 a square foot.

You have all these $5 rents, which is something that just two years ago, no broker would have predicted,” Miller said. “These tech companies, they’re trying to find the ‘wow factor’.”

It’s cheaper to spend more on rent than it is to recruit workers or replace those who leave for companies offering more amenities.

“To retain talent is so critical because people are always bouncing around to the highest bidder,” Miller said.

With the right mix of amenities, people might stay with a company even if someone else offers higher pay, he said.

“They may like the environment so much, they won’t want to move,” Miller said.

Competing for Talent

One of his clients, Mitek Systems, moved from Kearny Mesa to more expensive office space downtown to be closer to the talent pool from which the company recruits.

“They feel that’s going to be a phenomenal recruiting area,” Miller said.

Anticipating rising demand, owners in Rancho Bernardo and elsewhere along the Interstate 15 corridor are investing heavily in upgrading their buildings to add the amenities younger workers want, said Carlson of CBRE.

“The tenants will migrate to where those things are being provided,” he said.

Considering the tight supply of office space in San Diego, Carlson said it’s no surprise that rents are rising.

Over the past two years, overall office rents in San Diego have risen 13.7 percent, according to CBRE, making San Diego number eight in the nation when it comes to rising rents.

Orange County topped the list at 23.3 percent, with California’s Silicon Valley fifth with a 16.8 percent rise in office rental rates over the past two years.

“Our trends are in line with the trends we’re seeing nationally,” Carlson said.

As rents are rising, so is employment in the high-tech/software services field in San Diego – 4.4 percent from 2015 to 2016, the latest figures in the CBRE report.

Opportunities in STEM

In a separate report, the commercial brokerage firm of JLL found that even as employment in high-tech companies is rising, the number of college students getting bachelor’s degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields as a percentage of all bachelor’s degrees has held steady since 2011 at 24.7 percent.

Given the higher wages earned by STEM graduates, those findings were a bit of a surprise, said Damon Melda, JLL senior vice president.

“You look at the average wages that they’re making — it’s $30,000 more than the average job — so you’d think there would be a focus, ‘hey, if I want to live in Southern California, these are the types of jobs I need to get,’ ” Melda said.

Suburban office markets that provide an urban-like live-work-play environment are well positioned to capture strong demand from office users, according to a new report from CBRE.

Among the most common attributes of so-called “urban-suburban” submarkets are the presence of abundant retail, office and housing options, as well as employment opportunities, based on a survey of CBRE Research professionals in the 25 largest suburban markets.

Established urban-suburban submarkets have the added advantage of amenities like entertainment and recreational offerings, restaurants and grocery stores and public transportation access. Established submarkets in San Diego include UTC, Mission Valley and Carlsbad.

“Mission Valley is seeing a revitalization with increased office and residential construction, including the redevelopment of the River Walk Golf Club and Town and Country Conference Center,” said Jeff Oesterblad, vice president at CBRE in San Diego. “Development activity will continue to transform Mission Valley, which already features the live-work-play elements and is well-connected to the transit network with multiple stops throughout the area. Competing plans for the development of the former Qualcomm Stadium site will provide an urban feel and further boost demand.”

Emerging submarkets, such as Sports Arena/Point Loma, Del Mar Heights and South San Diego, are more likely to be in transition, with development, construction or renovation – including ongoing or planned public transit projects – shaping dynamics. For example, Del Mar Heights has been a premier office market with some of the highest rental rates in San Diego, but density has always been low, with shopping limited to a handful of auto-oriented centers. Notably, emerging submarkets are more likely than established submarkets to have mixed-use projects in the works. Mixed-use projects often serve as a catalyst for additional development in a particular area, spurring interest in the surrounding neighborhood. One Paseo is a massive new mixed-use project under construction that will add retail, residential and office space to the otherwise decentralized submarket. Emerging submarkets are also more likely to utilize government incentives, zoning changes or other public commitments to assist development than established submarkets.

“Steep rental rates and an increasingly limited supply of quality office space, especially in large blocks, in downtown submarkets will continue to lead more tenants to look for space in suburban markets,” said Scott Marshall, executive managing director, Advisory & Transaction Services|Investor Leasing, CBRE. “Moreover, as more millennials age and begin families, many will eventually move to the suburbs. Office locations that can provide the urban characteristics this pool of workers has grown accustomed to will be in the highest demand.”

The vacancy rate for emerging urban-suburban submarkets was 15.3 percent as of Q1 2017, compared with 13.8 percent for the established urban-suburban submarkets. Similarly, rents in emerging urban-suburban submarkets have yet to surpass the overall suburban average ($27.79 per sq. ft.) but were essentially equal at $27.46 per sq. ft. and significantly below rents in established urban-suburban submarkets ($31.90).

The amount of new office construction underway in urban-suburban submarkets is slightly elevated relative to their share of inventory. Emerging submarkets account for 22 percent of total square footage under construction in the top 25 suburban markets (compared to their 20 percent share of total inventory) and established submarkets account for 30 percent (compared to 26 percent of total inventory). Yet in certain metros, these shares are much higher, with urban-suburban submarkets accounting for 100 percent of the suburban office space under construction in Sacramento, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Kansas City and Austin.

The San Diego office market remains very tight as leasing activity stays strong throughout the region. This continues to drive asking rates to all-time highs, particularly in Downtown and Central San Diego. In the latter, average asking rents have been more than $3 per square foot for three consecutive quarters, an unprecedented level. With limited supply and relatively low construction activity on the horizon, continued upward pressure on rents is expected. There are, of course, limits to growth in any market, so job growth will have to continue to sustain the recent high demand. Job growth has recently started to slow compared to recent months as we reach nearly full employment, but remains around 2 percent year-over-year for office users. Until this drops more significantly, tenant demand should remain strong.

Tenants are demanding more amenities and higher-end design from the lobby to the occupied spaces, driving landlords to invest heavily in their properties. This is especially true outside of Downtown and UTC, where suburban buildings and campuses strive to offer urban-type amenities with dining, fitness and lounge spaces. New developments and major redevelopments outside of Downtown and UTC, like Ampersand in Mission Valley, are heavily focused on creating a high-end experience for tenants with indoor/outdoor spaces that accentuate a corporate campus in San Diego’s envious climate. Throughout the county, several buildings are or recently have experienced overhauls to their lobbies and common areas, focusing on a more concierge-like experience. As the tech industry continues to grow Downtown, owners are capitalizing on upgraded common areas, strong design, and leveraging the burgeoning residential and retail neighborhoods.

UTC remains an interesting submarket to watch, as rates remain above other Central submarkets, but large availabilities linger. Nearly 20 percent of the submarket is available, with more than 10 percent directly vacant, mostly in older product. Nevertheless, the best product in the market is leasing well, and we expect some big announcements about strong leasing activity in the third quarter. The forthcoming trolley extension, which will connect UTC to UC San Diego campus, Mission Valley and Downtown, could increase the attractiveness of the submarket, especially for tech tenants. Westfield is making a significant investment to modernize the Westfield UTC shopping center, which will add attractive entertainment, shopping and dining elements to the area. Multifamily is on the rise as well, and the submarket is starting to evolve into a much denser urban center.

These tight market conditions are driving some owners to look at their exit options. An increase in for-sale office listings has been evident with at least 15 properties in San Diego hitting the market so far this year. This includes buildings in Downtown, Sorrento Mesa, Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa. Record-high lease rates and vacancy rates at post-recession lows present strong market conditions for owners that may take the opportunity to exit. Owners may also want to capitalize on an influx of capital from foreign investors that are targeting Southern California. The lending environment also remains attractive and busy, augmenting a solid buyer pool, whether foreign or domestic. Year-to-date, 10 sales of more than $10 million have transacted. An additional 17 were on the market or in escrow at the end of the second quarter. As the second half of the year gets underway, it will be interesting to see where these properties trade, and at what cap rate.

A number of projects underway, in the pipeline or proposed are changing the face of Mission Valley.

Mission Valley is an area of San Diego comprising 3,216 acres, or 2,418 acres excluding utilities and rights of way. Residential density is 41 units per acre, but that is likely to change with an update to the Mission Valley Community Plan. Increased density will be supported by the Trolley Green Line, which stops near several residential projects under development or proposed

The 305-unit Millennium Mission Valley residential mixed-used project by Houston-based developer The Dinerstein Cos. is underway along I-8. Initial units will be delivered in late September or early October. The project is at 5030 Camino Del Arroyo, about a block from the Westfield Mission Valley mall project, and is served by the Mission Valley Center Transit Station. Nearby, the Levi-Cushman family, owner of the Riverwalk Golf Club, is partnering with Houston-based Hines to redevelop the 200-acre site, which is along the San Diego River and adjacent to Fashion Valley mall. A mixed-use development with 4,000 residential units and office and retail components is proposed. Just north of Friars Road at SR-163 and I-805 is Civita, a $2B sustainable, transit-oriented, 230-acre master planned community. A joint venture of Sudberry Properties and landowner the Grant Family Trust, the development, which replaced a quarry, is designed as an urban-style village around a 19-acre community park. At build-out, Civita, which is served by the Rio Vista Transit Center, will provide 60 to 70 acres of parks and open space, 4,780 residential units, including approximately 478 affordable units, a 480K SF retail center and a 420K SF office campus.

“We’re really excited, because a lot of great things are happening around our project in this part of the Valley,” said Dinerstein West Coast partner Josh Vasbinder, who is in charge of developing his company’s five-acre Millennium Mission Valley project. He said the Westside of Mission Valley along the San Diego River, where all of these projects are located, is evolving to a 24/7, urban market. Millennium Mission Valley replaced an old car dealership and boat repair service. Scheduled for completion in late 2017, it is bringing urban-style amenities to this suburban community. “We felt this was a great location for activating the streetfront with mixed-use, including both food and office uses,” he said, noting creating a walkable environment along the project frontage was strategically done with the hope that this project will serve as a catalyst for more projects that will create a pedestrian-oriented atmosphere in this area of Mission Valley.

Two other major Mission Valley projects are rising or planned near Fashion Valley mall: Casey Brown Co.’s 330K SF AMP&RSAND, which is repositioning the old San Diego Union-Tribune building to a modern, amenitized office campus, and a 600-unit mixed-use project, which includes four residential towers, planned by Holland Partners as part of the $80M, 40-acre redevelopment of the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center. These two transit-oriented project sites are near the Fashion Valley Transit Station. Additionally, the proposed $4B SoccerCity development would be served by the Qualcomm Stadium Transit Station. This 168-acre development proposed by FS Investors would provide another 4,800 residential units, as well as 3.1M SF of office and retail space, 350 hotel rooms, 55 acres of parkland and a 22,000-seat professional soccer stadium.

Dinerstein’s objective in tenanting commercial spaces at Millennium Mission Valley is to strengthen the Main Street feel provided by the architectural design, with a fast-casual food concept for the 4,300 SF ground-floor retail space and a service-oriented business for the 5K SF, single-tenant office space. Designed by TCA Architects, Millennium Mission Valley also provides a collaborative co-working space that accommodates residents via a large dedicated work area with multiple private conference rooms. The project is also bringing live-work or shopkeeper units to the valley.

The project will offer 14, two-story live-work units geared toward small-business owners or residents who work entirely from home. “We wanted to create a project that allows people in the space to truly work from home,” Vasbinder said. “Ultimately, we are very excited about bringing an urban, pedestrian-oriented lifestyle to Mission Valley residents.” This five-story project also has 291 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, with an average size of 870 SF. Units range between 400 SF and 1,200 SF and rents will start at $1,400/month for the studios, Vasbinder said.

“We’re trying to create a lifestyle for our residents,” Vasbinder said. “Our goal is to provide everything they need and want on-site.” Amenities include a resort-style pool, a Jacuzzi and aqua lounge, a large community room, a two-level, 3,500 SF fitness center with equipment and boxing, yoga and spin rooms, a Kids Club and a public plaza. The project will also provide a shuttle to the nearby Trolley station and concierge-type services. The project gives residents easy access to the San Diego River via footpaths across the street. The San Diego River Foundation’s plan for protecting and enhancing the river’s valuable natural and cultural resources includes creation of a river-long park system.

The developer of SoccerCity has pledged $40M to create a 35-acre San Diego River Park, which would include hiking trails, bike paths and possibly include benches, shade structures, public art and native landscaping. Some of the land would be used as bioswales that collect and filter pollutants out of water runoff. Learn more about the biggest projects under construction or in the pipeline at the San Diego Construction & Development Forum on June 29.

The Mission Valley land that once housed the Union-Tribune Publishing Co. will be turned into a 330,000-square-foot office campus by The Casey Brown Company, which described the makeover as creating “a modern and highly amenitized work campus.”

The company announced Tuesday that it is close to completing the first part of the revamping, and released several renderings of the property — to be called AMP&RSAND.

“When the Union-Tribune stopped its presses in 2016, it made one final impression with the last characters of the traditional alphabet — the ampersand,” said Casey Brown, principal of Casey Brown. “AMP&RSAND is a historic location reimagined for the demands of the modern workforce. This final impression was not to mark the end of an era, but to signify that the best is yet to come, and we welcome you to explore the AMP&RSAND campus.”

The company did not disclose renovation costs.

The repositioned five-story office tower, where editors and journalists once published the newspaper, will be completed in the third quarter, and the adjacent three-story building, which housed the printing presses, will be delivered in the first quarter 2018. Both properties are 165,000 square feet, each. The interior design has an industrial loft-style feel, featuring exposed brick, concrete pillars, 13-foot ceilings and oversized windows.

The campus features nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space as well as an amphitheater for multifunction gatherings. A central meeting place called the treehouse is a patio space under a massive ficus tree, planted by Helen Copley (a former owner of the Union-Tribune), with hanging chairs, hammocks and meeting areas. The campus also boasts additional outdoor spaces and parks both within and between the buildings as well as along the San Diego River. Other amenities include a fitness studio equipped with spa-like lockers and showers for all tenants, concierge services such as valet parking, Craft Coffee Café, as well as an on-site bike center.

CBRE will handle leasing of the property

San Diego-based Casey Brown Company is nearing completion on the initial redevelopment phase of Ampersand. The former home of the San Diego Union-Tribune is being transformed into a modern, and highly amenitized work campus in San Diego’s Mission Valley.

The 330,000-square-foot facility at 350 Camino de la Reina features two separate buildings. The industrial loft-style design will feature exposed brick, concrete pillars, 13-foot ceilings and over-sized windows, as well as nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space.

The $35-million repositioning project,  planned for a Q3 2017 completion, encompasses a five-story office tower, where journalists once published the newspaper. An adjacent three-story building, which housed printing presses, is expected to deliver in Q1 2018.

CBRE’s Matt Carlson, Jeff Oesterblad and Ryan Grant handle leasing at the property.

San Diego developer The Casey Brown Co. is nearing completion on the first phase of a $35 million redevelopment of the former Mission Valley home of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Brokers at CBRE Group Inc. said the former newspaper campus is being redeveloped into a two-building, 330,000-square-foot office campus known as Ampersand (the actual name has & in place of the letter E) off Interstate 8 at 350 Camino de la Reina. Brokers did not disclose the cost of the renovation, but it was recently reported at $35 million by the Union-Tribune.

The first phase is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2017 and involves a five-story office tower that housed reporters, editors and other management personnel for more than 40 years, before the Union-Tribune relocated last year to downtown San Diego. The second phase, set for a first quarter 2018 completion, is the renovation of an adjacent three-story building that housed printing presses.

In a CBRE statement, brokers said the interior design of the repurposed buildings will have an “industrial loft-style feel” with exposed brick, concrete pillars, 13-foot ceilings and oversized windows.

The renovated campus will include nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space, along with an amphitheater for multi-function gatherings. A central meeting place called the Treehouse is a patio under a massive ficus tree planted by Helen Copley, matriarch of the family that owned the Union-Tribune for several decades.

There will also be a fitness studio with spa-like lockers and showers for tenants, with an on-site coffee cafe, bike center, and concierge services such as valet parking. Leasing is being handled by CBRE’s Matt Carlson, Jeff Oesterblad and Ryan Grant.

The renovation project’s designer is Wolcott Architecture Interiors, and the general contractor is C.W. Driver.

Longtime local developer Casey Brown purchased the 13-acre Mission Valley campus from former owner Douglas Manchester for $52 million in 2015. Brown said he chose the name Amp&rsand for the redevelopment because an ampersand was the final impression made by the Union-Tribune’s printing presses in 2016.

The Union-Tribune is now printed at Los Angeles facilities of its corporate sister publication, the Los Angeles Times.

Ten months after the Union-Tribune moved downtown, its former building in Mission Valley has undergone a radical transformation on the way to becoming a 330,000-square-foot creative office center.

Called Ampersand, the two-building complex at Interstate 8 and state Route 163 has been gutted, its presses scrapped. Construction is moving forward this month with completion of the first phase early next year.

Carlos Carrasquillo, studio director of Wolcott Architecture Interiors in Culver City, is the designer and C.W. Driver is the contractor of the $35 million project.

“It’s a very visible building that everyone in San Diego seems to been touched by,” said developer Casey Brown. “Personally, I toured the facility when I was in the third grade, which is kind of fun. My grandparents used to bring me down to get end rolls of paper to color on. Being born and raised in San Diego, those are my experiences. The experiences that we hear are just ongoing.”

The first phase involves the five-story office building on the east. With the newspaper offices’ interior walls, ceiling tiles and carpet removed, exterior light floods in from all directions.The exposed concrete ceiling waffle pattern and duct system will remain in view to create the “cool,” industrial look that appeals to young upstart companies.

The second phase, tracking about 90 days after the first, will transform the three-floor printing plant building into a U-shaped complex with 14-foot-high windows and a dramatic north-facing open-air courtyard cut out of the center. Former loading docks will become outdoor terraces and a full-scale, 8,000-square-foot gym, showers and locker rooms will be built on the southeast corner.

Other amenities will include a craft coffee cafe, valet parking, concierge services and possibly a restaurant in the former gas station and vehicle maintenance building at the southwest corner of the site.

The entrance will shift from the north to a pedestrian courtyard between the two buildings and a former outdoor cafe deck will become “The Treehouse” with hanging chairs and hammocks around a specimen ficus tree. There will be nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space and an amphitheater for multifunction gatherings.

Casey Brown, the new owner of the 13-acre San Diego Union-Tribune property, says he has loved the iconic newspaper building since he was a child.

“The first time I saw it, I was in the third grade,” said Brown, a La Jolla native. “It was a field trip to tour the newspaper.”

Little did Brown know that one day — long after he went on to be known as “Touchdown Brown” as a halfback and fullback with a penchant for scoring short-yardage touchdowns for the San Diego State Aztecs (1982-85) — that he would become the owner of one of the most recognizable buildings in America’s Finest City.

Brown gave an exclusive interview to Mission Valley News about what he intends to do with the U-T property and whether his purchase will change the plans to build luxury apartments along the San Diego River.

Last month, Brown’s new firm, Casey Brown Co., purchased the land for $52 million from developer Doug Manchester, the former owner and publisher of the U-T. Brown previously was founder and president of BBL Commercial Real Estate.

The 170,000-square-feet, five-story newspaper building, designed by architect Frank Hope, is a familiar landmark that can be seen by drivers on Interstate 8 and state Route 163. “It has great bones,” Brown said. “Architecturally, it remains a very current building, even though it was built in 1973. The iconic nature draws me to the building.”

The Casey Brown Company has acquired the San Diego Union-Tribune property, located at 350 Camino de la Reina just north of I-8 and west of Hwy 163 in Mission Valley, for $52 mil. Doug Manchester, the former publisher of the Union-Tribune was the seller.

The property, situated on 13 acres of infill land in the center of San Diego County, conists of a 170k sf , five-story office building and a 190k sf, three-story industrial building, which was the former newspaper print facility.

The Casey Brown Company plans to upgrade the existing office building into an amenity-rich, Class A corporate campus. The industrial building is currently being evaluated for alternative uses. The site was also recently entitled for 200 apartment units with a unanimous approval by the City Council.

The buyer was attracted to the property in part because of its desirable central location at the intersection of I-8 and SR-163, which is further enhanced by the walkability to the Green Line Trolley stop and Fashion Valley, one of San Diego’s premier malls. CBRE will be leasing the property for the new owner.

The campus acquisition marks the first purchase under the newly launched Casey Brown Company. Company president and CEO Casey Brown has a long history of acquiring commercial real estate in the area. As past president of BBL Commercial Real Estate, Casey was instrumental in the acquisition of many quintessential properties in San Diego such as 2550 Fifth Avenue, a 13-story financial building where Mr. A’s restaurant is located, the downtown Bank of America and Commonwealth Towers, and The Palladium building.

San Diego CA— CBRE Group Inc. announced the Casey Brown Company acquired the San Diego Union-Tribune property, located 350 Camino de la Reina in Mission Valley for $52 million. Doug Manchester, the former publisher of the Union-Tribune was the seller. CBRE will be leasing the property.

The property is situated on 13 acres of infill land in the center of San Diego County; which includes a 170,000 square foot, five-story office building and a 190,000 square foot, three-story industrial building, which was the former newspaper print facility. The Casey Brown Company plans to upgrade the existing office building into an amenity-rich, Class A corporate campus. The industrial building is currently being evaluated for alternative uses. The site was also recently entitled for 200 apartment units with a unanimous approval by the City Council.

“I was drawn to the asset given its premier central location at the intersection of I-8 and SR-163, which is further enhanced by the walkability to the Green Line Trolley stop and Fashion Valley, San Diego’s premier mall. I plan to make this an iconic landmark for all of San Diego,” said Casey Brown, founder, president and CEO of the Casey Brown Company. I have a great deal of respect for Doug Manchester and the Union-Tribune and I look forward to celebrating the rich history of the campus while converting it to the next generation office environment.”

The campus acquisition marks the first purchase under the newly launched Casey Brown Company. Casey Brown has a long history of acquiring commercial real estate, as past president of BBL Commercial Real Estate, Casey was instrumental in the acquisition of many quintessential properties in San Diego such as 2550 Fifth Avenue, a 13-story financial building, where Mr. A’s restaurant is located, The downtown Bank of America and Commonwealth Towers, and The Palladium building.

Casey Brown, a veteran of the commercial real estate industry in San Diego founded the Casey Brown Company, a regional commercial real estate firm specializing in acquiring office and industrial properties. Prior to his current role, he was the founder and president of BBL Inc., a commercial real estate investment firm for more than 18 years. Mr. Brown started his career at CBRE where he was a successful broker for 13 years and was a top producer in the region. Mr. Brown is a native La Jollan and graduated from San Diego State University’s Business School with a degree in Real Estate Finance, where he also played football for the Aztecs on an athletic scholarship.

The San Diego Union-Tribune property in Mission Valley changed hands Friday, with former U-T publisher Doug Manchester selling the 13-acre site to BBL Commercial Real Estate, headed by Casey Brown.

The sales price was not immediately disclosed but Dick Gibbons, president and CEO of Manchester Financial Group, said it sold for more than $50 million.

The property at 350 Camino de la Reina, just south of the Fashion Valley shopping center, includes the five-story, 168,570-square-foot office building, where the UT has been located since 1973; the adjacent printing plant where the presses are being dismantled; and a site for a 200-unit apartment building that the City Council is expected to take final action on next week.

“We could do it ourselves,” Gibbons said of the redevelopment plans, “but Casey is an old friend and is very qualified in doing that.”

Manchester acquired the property when he bought the U-T in 2011. A year later it was assessed at $42.5 million. He retained the land and buildings when he sold the newspaper company to Chicago-based Tribune Publishing in May. Printing operations have been transferred to the Los Angeles plant, run by the company’s sister newspaper, the Los Angeles Times.

The long-time Mission Valley headquarters and printing press of the San Diego Union-Tribune was sold Friday, the newspaper said Sunday.

The paper’s home since 1973, the five story building located at 350 Camino de la Reina was sold by its former publisher, Doug Manchester, to BBL Commercial Real Estate. The exact price of the sale was not released, but a source told the Union-Tribune that the 13-acre property sold for more than $50 million.

Manchester sold the paper to Tribune Publishing for $85 million this year. He had owned it since 2011.

The U-T said it is possible that it will stay in the building while renovations by the new owners take place. It hired CBRE brokerage to search for a new downtown location when Manchester sold it to the Chicago-based company.

The Union-Tribune is now printed at the Los Angeles Times presses in L.A., also owned by Tribune.

BBL is headed by Casey Brown, the U-T reported.