Flight to Quality for San Diego Industrial Users

There is growing demand for industrial product in San Diego, but with a large stock of dated properties, there is a flight to quality. RAF Pacifica Group has added 12 properties totaling 1 million square feet of high-quality industrial space to the San Diego market. The properties include dis·trib·ute, located at 3261 & 3266 Lionshead Ave. in Carlsbad; gen·er·ate, located at 1125 Joshua Way in Vista; and pro·duc·tion, located at 195 Bosstick Blvd. in San Marcos. The properties were brought to the market through both new construction and redevelopment.

“San Diego is one of the most desirable markets in Southern California that continues to attract exceptionally high caliber tenants. That said, much of the product consists of dated buildings that do not appeal to the needs of today’s industrial users,” Adam Robinson, founder and president of RAF Pacifica Group, tells Globest.com. “We saw an opportunity to carve out a new niche of Creative Industrial properties that combine the amenities traditionally found in creative office properties in industrial properties with our new developments, and to upgrade existing product into highly functional assets that today’s tenants demand.”

Completing its business plan to bring more quality industrial product to the market, RAF Pacifica Group sold the portfolio to an unnamed private investor for $170 million. “We know that San Diego is a core market that attracts institutional buyers,” explains Robinson. “However, most institutional buyers won’t look at portfolios less than $50 million. To attract this type of buyer, we knew we needed to create of portfolio of scale and quality. This is exactly what we did while also achieving a substantial return on our investment.” The developer too a creative industrial vision for the properties, a characteristic that has come into high demand recently. The properties feature floor to ceiling glass, outdoor common areas and open layouts. “San Diego is an extremely supply and land constrained market, which is why there is such a shortage of product throughout the region,” says Robinson. “It takes a hyper local expertise, which is what we have built our niche on, in order to find the rare land sites and opportunities for new development. There is currently a flight to quality underway throughout San Diego. Tenants are seeking newer, renovated product that is equipped with the latest in high quality amenities and features.”

For this reason, there was high demand for this portfolio and RAF Pacifica was able to sell the properties at a premium. “We recognized this when we began developing Creative Industrial properties a few years ago, and the sale of this portfolio is demonstrative of the fact that we were right,” adds Robinson.

This is not the end of the developer’s activity in the market. “We plan to remain extremely active in San Diego,” says Robinson. “We are currently developing a variety of mixed-use properties, and will continue to seek value-add investment, development and re-development opportunities throughout the region.”