Terms of Midway District project released Focus is on public benefits over cash for sports arena acreage The documents, reveal the fine print of the negotiated deal with master developer @MidwayRising LLC that has been in the works for more than four years. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… by @jbruin via @SDUT

Wow, Barnes Tennis Center pays just $50 month and has made more than $20M over the past five years! Management of its real estate, leases is costing @CityofSanDiego millions. History of lopsided deals, below-market rents dogs city amid budget shortfall. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib…

Otay Mesa Warehouse Project Among Biggest in California Elevation Land Company elevation-land.com/and Crow Holdings Capital crowholdings.com/ have completed the first phase of the Otay Business Park with 612,240 square feet of warehouse space in four buildings on a 119-acre site at the border with Mexico. “It’s the largest ground-up industrial development going on in San Diego County and it’s one of the largest in Southern California right now by square footage,” said Brig Black, Elevation Land Company founder and principal. “At full build-out, Otay Business Park will provide 1.8 million square feet of industrial space in a location that’s hard to beat for logistics efficiency,” Black said, adding that the final project will have up to nine buildings. “We have the flexibility to lease the buildings, we can sell the buildings, we can build-to-suit or we can sell lots,” Black said. The completed first phase of the project includes a 202,200-square-foot building with 197 parking stalls, 50 trailer stalls, 36 loading docks and two grade level doors; a 233,880-square-foot building with 220 parking stalls, 52 trailer stalls, 37 loading docks and two grade-level doors: a 95,400-square-foot building with 104 parking stalls, 22 loading docks and two grade level doors, and a 79,760-square-foot building with 87 parking stalls, 20 loading docks, and two-grade-level doors. “One of the things we designed into the buildings was a significant amount of trailer storage, onsite trailer storage,” Black said. Black said construction costs for the first phase were about $50 million, not including the cost of infrastructure and providing land elsewhere in Otay Mesa and Ramona to offset the environmental effect of the project. A second phase 2 will tentatively include 650,000 square feet of warehouse space in three buildings, one of which would be 320,000 square feet, Black said, adding that a possible third phase would have 400,000 square feet of warehouse space in two buildings. All of the buildings in the first phase have 32-foot clear height, and each one has 3,000 square feet of glassed-in office space on a corner of the building. “The office space includes cutting edge conference rooms, lobbies and private offices, bright, airy break rooms with windows to the exterior, rest rooms, and all the things an office needs,’ Black said. Each of the larger buildings has skylights to flood the warehouse with natural light, with more than 400 skylights among the four buildings, Black said. “During the day, you don’t need to even turn the lights on,” Black said. “We wanted to be very robust with the light that comes in.” The project also has a concrete apron in the loading area, ESFR sprinkler systems and extra electrical power “Users want a lot of power, more than they ever have in the past,” Black said. “That allows the buildings to serve as manufacturing hubs.” Preparing for Improved Commercial Trade at Border Black said he is in discussions with several potential tenants, adding that the warehouses are drawing interest because of their proximity to the new Otay Mesa East border crossing, their extensive trailer parking and a ready labor pool of workers north and south of the border. The first phase of the new border crossing is expected to open in late 2027. Uncertainty over tariffs prompted some companies to put off making any commitments to lease warehouse space, but he said that their concern is waning. “People are feeling they have a better handle on the tariff issues with Mexico,” Black said. “There’s just more certainty about what that landscape looks like.” CBRE reported that the overall vacancy rate for industrial property throughout San Diego dropped to 6.5% in the first quarter of 2026 and absorption of vacant space rose to 132,000 square feet, which CBRE said was “a vast improvement” over the previous quarter. “The supply side has bottomed out now,” Black said, adding that, “It’s going to be an environment where we are looking for the overall economy and the markets to continue to improve, the regulatory environment, the tariffs, everything is going to continue to improve.” “We’re going to need more capacity at the border for commercial trade. I think that trade will thrive in the future.,” Black said. Dempsey Construction was the general contractor on the business park and @WareMalcomb was the architect. sdbj.com/real-estate/industr… via @SDbusiness

The biggest share — 30% — of the portfolio is located in San Diego. @BlackRock’s $1.6 billion apartment bet signals return of big multifamily deals Investor acquires Camden Property Trust's 11-property Southern California portfolio One of the nation’s largest apartment owners has exited California with a portfolio sale to a BlackRock-managed investment vehicle. Houston-based real estate investment trust Camden Property Trust sold 11 Southern California properties totaling 3,620 apartments for $1.625 billion, or about $449,000 per unit. The sale provides Camden with fresh capital to buy back its stock and double down on faster-growing Sun Belt markets. On the buyer side, the deal adds to growing confidence among apartment investors as property values and rents climb. The portfolio stretches across Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties, giving BlackRock immediate scale in some of Southern California’s most supply-constrained rental markets. The properties were 96% occupied over the past year, with limited concessions and average household incomes of about $134,000 within a mile of the complexes, according to JLL, which represented the seller in the deal. “The significant investor demand for these best-in-class assets in supply-constrained markets underscores the strength of Southern California fundamentals, leading to significant liquidity at scale,” JLL Senior Managing Director Blake Rogers said in a statement. The transaction is the largest U.S. apartment portfolio sale since Blackstone's approximately $10 billion acquisition of Apartment Income REIT in June 2024 and offers one of the clearest signs yet that institutional investors are growing more willing to place large bets on multifamily real estate. National apartment sales volume is up about 20% from a year ago as pricing stabilizes, lending markets improve and a slowdown in construction raises expectations that today’s excess supply will gradually be absorbed, according to CoStar National Director of Multifamily Analytics Grant Montgomery. BlackRock is betting that Southern California’s barriers to new construction, high homeownership costs and concentration of major employment centers will support apartment demand over the long term. The investment manager also secured financing that allows the properties to be sold or refinanced individually, preserving flexibility as market conditions change. Camden, meanwhile, is using the sale to unlock capital tied up in California and redirect it toward debt repayment, stock repurchases and acquisitions in its core Sun Belt markets. The REIT said roughly $900 million of the proceeds would retire balances on its revolving credit facility and commercial paper program after it spent about $423 million repurchasing shares during the first half of the year. Supply-constrained region The sale represents about 16.5% of Southern California’s average annual apartment transaction volume over the past five years based on unit count, an unusually large transfer in a region where institutional-quality properties tend to remain under the same ownership for extended periods. Ten of the 11 properties were developed by Camden and had never previously been publicly marketed. The biggest share — 30% — of the portfolio is located in San Diego. Among the properties is The Camden, a 287-unit Hollywood complex with nearly 39,000 square feet of Equinox-anchored retail, and the 380-unit Camden Crown Valley in Mission Viejo. The portfolio also includes the 469-unit Camden Landmark, accounting for about 5% of Ontario’s market-rate apartment inventory in properties with more than 100 units. The transaction illustrates the contrasting strategies emerging among the apartment sector’s largest investors: BlackRock is acquiring a difficult-to-replicate coastal portfolio, while Camden is concentrating its capital in faster-growing Sun Belt markets. Camden has acquired seven apartment properties for about $645 million in those regions through July. Even so, JLL's Rogers said, “Southern California remains one of the most supply-constrained and institutionally sought-after rental markets in the country, and we expect that dynamic to continue to drive long-term value creation." product.costar.com/suiteapps… via @CoStarNews

Interesting business @warespaceco | warespace.com/ Vacant Carlsbad Building Reimagined as Flexible Warehouse A Maryland company that specializes in building warehouses for small businesses, WareSpace, is opening its first San Diego County operation in Carlsbad. “We take large, outdated buildings, whether its industrial, office or retail and we convert them to these small business hubs,” said co-founder Levi Cohen. “We are in the business of helping small businesses.” sdbj.com/real-estate/industr… via @SDbusiness

.@ComicCon agrees to stay in San Diego through 2030 Around 60 hotels, mostly in downtown and Mission Valley, agreed to providing 14,000 discounted rooms over the peak nights of the convention. Attendees receive hundreds of dollars off hotel rooms, but costs still vary from property to property — with hotels closest to the convention typically being the most expensive. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… by @PhillipMolnar via @SDUT #SDCC2026

It's that time again in San Diego! Colorful (and illegal) building wraps take over for @Comic_Con 🦹 @CityofSanDiego inspectors can fine hotels and businesses up to $10,000 a day, but such high sanctions are rare. It is more common for the city to give out warnings or a $1,000-per-day citation. It issued $19,000 in citations last year. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… b y @PhillipMolnar via @SDUT #SDCC2026

Why this Los Angeles neighborhood fought to save a water bottling plant Former Sparkletts property awaits a second act A Los Angeles neighborhood has won a fight to ensure one of its most recognizable landmarks isn't replaced by a data center or apartment complex. The @LACityCouncil is designating the former Sparkletts Bottling Plant property at 4500 E. Lincoln Ave. as a historic-cultural monument, protecting the 1929-built complex after the water company ceased operations there in 2025. Parent firm and property owner Primo Water has since marketed the 8-acre property for redevelopment, but any project will need to preserve the site's defining historic features and navigate additional review requirements tied to the designation. That creates an unusual redevelopment challenge: finding a new use for an aging industrial property while retaining the architecture that made it worth saving. The former bottling plant bears little resemblance to a typical factory. Designed by architect Richard D. King in the Moorish Revival style, its domes, decorative tilework, wrought-iron detailing and minaret-inspired elements make it one of Los Angeles' rare surviving examples of industrial architecture from that tradition. The designation comes as aging industrial properties across Los Angeles face mounting pressure to find new uses while data center developers face community opposition over climbing power costs and other issues. Adaptive reuse has become an increasingly attractive option for older industrial sites that no longer fit the needs of modern logistics or advanced manufacturing, according to Patrick Barnes, managing director at @AvisonYoung , who works with industrial property investors across the region. Industrial buildings in Los Angeles more often become flashpoints over truck traffic, pollution and land-use conflicts than preservation campaigns. Sparkletts instead drew support from neighbors, historians and preservation advocates who argued the site’s historic character should become an asset for its next owner rather than an obstacle to redevelopment. “From an industrial perspective, it’s somewhat of an outlier because of its historic character and the market that it’s in,” Barnes told CoStar News. Community victory The property sits along the Arroyo Seco corridor between Highland Park and Eagle Rock, where former industrial districts have steadily evolved into neighborhoods filled with housing, restaurants, creative businesses and mixed-use projects. As the area changed, residents increasingly came to see the former bottling plant less as an industrial facility than as a defining neighborhood landmark. “We’ve always had an eye on the building because it’s such an icon in the community,” Frank Parrello, landmarks and advocacy chair for the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society, said during a public hearing. “We want to make sure that whatever happens in the future, the building is considered.” Supporters argued that preserving the landmark need not prevent redevelopment. In comments submitted to the city, the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society said the site could accommodate housing, recreation, commercial space or light industrial uses while keeping the historic design intact. “The retention of the historic headquarters adds to that potential,” the group wrote. Second act A CoStar analysis underscores the pressures facing older industrial properties. Less than 5% of Los Angeles County’s industrial inventory has been built over the past decade, compared with 18% nationally. Over the same period, 50.8 million square feet of industrial space was completed while 34.6 million square feet was demolished, leaving the county with less than 2% net inventory growth. Barnes said companies increasingly find it more economical to manufacture products outside California and ship them into Los Angeles than to produce them locally, making it harder for older industrial buildings to compete with modern facilities designed for logistics and advanced manufacturing. Sparkletts began as the Sparkling Artesian Water Co. in 1925, helping popularize home and office water delivery decades before bottled water became a national consumer staple. Four years later, the company opened its nearly 150,000-square-foot headquarters and bottling plant, which served as the company’s headquarters until 1991 and continued bottling water through multiple ownership changes before production ceased in 2025. The @LAConservancy a supporter of the historic designation, described the complex as an outstanding example of Moorish Revival industrial architecture. City planners concluded the property qualified for landmark protection not only for its architecture but also for its association with the rise of bottled water as an important Southern California industry. “I think it’s maybe flex industrial, creative R&D or adaptive reuse,” Barnes said of the property’s future. product.costar.com/home/news… via @CoStarNews

That's a pretty good use of AI for cleaning up a property marketing photo. It messed up the lettering in the Mexican restaurant name, but you don't really notice it.

L.A.’s Notorious Trio of Graffiti-Covered Skyscrapers Finally Finds a Buyer New owner is expected to spend more than $1.2 billion to acquire and complete a project long seen as a symbol of downtown’s decline. Work at the site stalled in 2019, when its former Chinese owner ran into financial trouble after pouring more than $1 billion into the residential, hotel and retail development. wsj.com/real-estate/commerci… by @KCarliniKing @pkwsj via @WSJ

Tech exec bets on downtown San Diego with purchase of 2 office towers A former SoftBank executive has purchased downtown office towers 1 Columbia Place and 2 Columbia Place with the stated goal of boosting the local economy. Golden Columbia LLC purchased 1 Columbia Place, a 27-story skyscraper at 401 W. A St., and 2 Columbia Place, a 12-story tower, at 1230 Columbia St. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… by @jbruin via @SDUT

Historic Spreckels Building, Theater in Downtown San Diego will be auctioned off Baroque-style landmark listed online, with bids starting at $5M on March 23 rimarketplace.com/auction/30… enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… by @jbruin via @SDUT

SBA to block green card holders Small-business loan program to tighten eligibility March 1 Last year, it tightened a requirement that businesses applying for loans must be 100% owned by U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or lawful permanent residents, up from a 51% standard. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… by @Maetron via @SDUT

ICE buys warehouses for mass detention network, rattling locals The Trump administration has moved to acquire industrial buildings in at least eight states. @DHSgov bought two this month: one in Maryland for $102 million and another in Arizona for $70 million. wapo.st/49ZKA7W by @jocwapo @dmac1 via @washingtonpost

The @CityofSanDiego could save a ton of money if it relocates City Hall A new study estimates that the city could save more than $325 million, over 20 years, if it buys a new City Hall building instead of fixing the existing one. The report also looks at the overall economic impact of a completely redeveloped Civic Center. The report — prepared by urban planning firm @U3Advisors downtownsandiego.org/wp-cont… is nearly two years in the making, building on the Prebys Foundation’s @prebysfound initial commitment in April 2024 to fund a big-picture vision for the city’s Civic Center real estate. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… by @jbruin via @SDUT

Prominent La Jolla-area hotel sells at discount The Embassy Suites by Hilton San Diego La Jolla has been sold to a Los Angeles-based investment company for $111 million—slightly more than half the price of just four years ago. enewspaper.sandiegouniontrib… by @LoriWeisberg via @SDUT

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2026. 🥂 As we step into 2026, the focus in commercial real estate is clear: stability, innovation, and strategic growth. After a year of transition in 2025, we are looking forward to helping our clients navigate the opportunities this new year brings. Wishing you and your business a prosperous and successful 2026! #CommercialRealEstate #CRE2026 #NewYear #RealEstateInvesting #SanDiego