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New High-Rise a Rare Sight in UTC

The first high-rise office building to be built in the prime University Towne Center sub-market of San Diego since 1991 is being planned by Houston-based Hines, an international real estate firm, and TIAA-CREF, a national financial services organization based in New York.

On Aug. 15, they announced an investment venture to develop a 15-story, 340,000-square-foot “landmark” office building on a 3-acre site Hines had acquired in December.

Construction is expected to start on the project in the fourth quarter and is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2008.

Paul Twardowski, vice president of Hines’ San Diego office, declined to give a specific figure on the project, but estimated that it will be valued “in excess of $100 million, and less than $200 million.”

The office tower site is part of La Jolla Commons, a planned 12-acre mixed-use campus that also is expected to include a high-rise hotel and condominiums.

Hines purchased the office and garage parcels from Newport Beach-based developer Makar Properties LLC, which is planning to build the hotel and condo components, said Twardowski.

While Makar is “operating on their own time frame,” he said that he expects both projects to move ahead simultaneously.

“We both have an interest in making sure this is a great campus,” said Twardowski.

As for his timetable, he said, “We are moving forward. We have ordered the steel for the building, which, in our industry, means that we are quite serious.”

The building also was recently granted pre-certification by LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design), said Twardowski.

“We are incorporating the use of a lot of environmentally focused elements to make the building more efficient to operate,” he said.

Rick Reeder and Dave Odmark of Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial in San Diego have been retained to lease the office building.

, Pat Broderick

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