(SAN DIEGO) –The San Diego office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that the firm has recapitalized its 12.3-acre premier mixed-use La Jolla Commons campus in San Diego’s University Towne Centre (UTC) area.
In addition to the recapitalization, Hines executed a 15-year lease for a new 415,000-square-foot office building to be built on the campus for LPL Financial, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer.
Over the past six years, a joint venture of Hines and TIAA-CREF successfully developed La Jolla Commons tower one, a 13-story, 300,000-square-foot LEED® Gold office building on the La Jolla Commons mixed-use campus, and reconfigured development entitlements for two additional towers.
That venture has now sold the campus to a new joint venture of Hines and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management to realize the campus’ second and third phases.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management Managing Director Robert Curran remarked, “La Jolla Commons is the ideal product, and Hines is the ideal partner for our investors to enter the San Diego market.
The campus is best-in-class and will provide a high-quality income stream for our investors.”
“Hines and J.P. Morgan have a long-standing relationship and we’re excited to expand that relationship on such a prestigious project,” said Hines Vice President and Partner Paul Twardowski.
The 15-year LPL Financial lease is one of the largest in San Diego’s history.
Ground breaking for the new building will be in mid 2012, and opening will be in 2014.
LPL Financial will consolidate its San Diego offices from seven locations into one building at La Jolla Commons, bringing all of its San Diego-based employees together into a single facility optimized for supporting their needs and enabling them to support the needs of their customers. The new building will be of similar height and design to the existing La Jolla Commons tower one office building, and will incorporate high-quality materials in an efficient layout that will maximize operational efficiency.
The building is pursuing LEED® certification and will incorporate many sustainable features including under-floor air distribution and extensive use of reclaimed water for building systems and waste water.
Matthew Feeney, Russ Sande and Glenn Friedrich of CresaPartners represented LPL Financial in lease negotiations.
In addition to the LPL Financial lease, Hines has recently leased approximately 57,000 square feet in La Jolla Commons’ existing, multi-tenant office tower to:
Cushman & Wakefield of San Diego, Inc; Marks, Finch, Thornton & Baird LLP; Tang Advisors LLC; and Arrk Product Development Group USA, Inc.
The campus is now more than 90 percent leased.
“The partnership of J.P. Morgan and the endorsement of LPL Financial and the 23 premier businesses that have relocated to La Jolla Commons are testaments to the high caliber of this project, continued confidence in the region and organic growth within San Diego,” Twardowski said.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets has approximately $57.5 billion in assets under management and 405 professionals in the U.S., Europe and Asia, as of September 30, 2011.
With a 40-plus-year history of successful investing, J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets’ broad
capabilities provide many of the world’s most sophisticated investors with a global platform of real estate, infrastructure, maritime/transport and energy strategies driven by local investment talent with disciplined investment processes consistently implemented across asset types and regions.
Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm’s historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes 1,147 properties representing more than 462 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments.
With offices in 108 cities in 18 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $23.4 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. In San Diego and Orange counties, Hines owns and manages four million square feet, including Petco Park, La Jolla Commons and 525 B Street in downtown San Diego. Hines is also a world leader in sustainable real estate strategies, with extensive experience in LEED®, ENERGY STAR®, BREEAM, Haute Qualité Environnementale and DGNB green building rating systems.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.