Sudberry Properties is building a Scripps Ranch apartment project estimated to cost more than $100 million.
Under construction on a 9.5-acre site at 9850 Carroll Canyon Road, The Hub at Scripps Ranch will have 260 apartments and 10,700 square feet of retail and restaurant space, much of which has already been leased, according to Marco Sessa, principal and senior vice president of Sudberry Properties.
“The goal was to bring in a little residential. They didn’t have a ton of it right around there,” Sessa said.
The project will be have five residential buildings, four of which are four stories. The four-story buildings will have elevators.
Two 1960s vintage buildings that were razed to make way for the new development were on once the headquarters of Pacific Southwest Airlines and still had remnants of their former use, Sessa said.
At one-time, one of the buildings had eight flight simulators for pilot training, Sessa said.
More recently, the buildings were used for firefighter training.
The Look
Sessa said the design of The Hub is meant to stay in the character of the surrounding community.
“Architecturally, the buildings are a nice blend of a little bit of traditional but contemporary,” Sessa said. “I wouldn’t call it a higher density product. It was done with a fair amount of back-and-forth with the local community.”
The Hub was designed by MVE + Partners based in Irvine, the same firm that designed Sudberry’s Civita project in Mission Valley.
“The buildings are shaped like a U. Inside that U there is a two-unit building, a little jewel box building,” Sessa said.
There also 10 townhomes in pods of two inside the courtyard of the bigger four-story buildings, he said.
The apartments will start leasing in September with some of the apartments ready to occupy in October.
“As the first units are beginning to open, the construction will trail for several months into next year,” Sessa said. “By next April, everything will be done.”
Likely tenants are “young professionals” who work in nearby office parks, with a smattering of students from Miramar Community College, Sessa said.
“We’re beginning to draft a wait list,” Sessa said.
The Market
Demand for apartments in on the rise in an already tight market, according to the commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.
The countywide apartment vacancy rate at the end of the second quarter of 2021 had dropped to 2.6%, down from 4.2% in the Q2 2020, Cushman & Wakefield reported.
The firm predicted that the vacancy rate would stay below 4% for the next five years.
With apartments so scarce, Cushman & Wakefield projected that rents would rise by 5.6% for the full year of 2021 and rise 3.8% in 2022 compared to an average annual growth of 4.3% from 2016 to 2020.
The HUB will have a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments that will range from 614 square feet to 1,391 square feet with nine-foot ceilings, hardwood-style flooring in main area, carpeting in bedrooms, stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, and full-size washers and dryers.
Some of the two-bedroom apartments have dual master bedrooms so they can be shared with roommates, Sessa said.
The apartments will be designated smoke-free.
Shared amenities will include an outdoor pool, spa and lounge, a 2,053 square-foot fitness center, an indoor lounge with a demonstration kitchen, a game room and a media screening room.
Monthly apartment rents have yet to be set, but Sessa said they’d likely be in the low 2,000s for the one-bedroom apartments, in the higher 2,000s for the two-bedroom apartments, and a little more than $3,000 for the three-bedroom apartments.
Among the commercial tenants that have already leased space, Starbucks has leased 2,061 square feet and is scheduled to open in September.
Pacific Dental Services has leased 3,266 square feet and is expected to open in the first quarter of 2022.
Big Cheech’s Chicken ‘N Waffles and Sliders has leased 2,063 square feet is projected to open in spring 2022.
Matt Moser of Retail Insite is handling leasing.
Challenging
“We have a pretty challenging site from a civil engineering standpoint. We have a pretty elaborate storm water system,” Sessa said. “Water leaving the site will be nonexistent or cleaner than the rain that fell on it.”
The storm water system included drilling four wells that allow water to percolate 120 feet into the ground, Sessa said. “That has all kinds of water quality benefits.”
Additionally, Sessa said 70% to 80% of the material from demolishing the two buildings that were on the site was recycled.
Construction of The Hub started in 2019 just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, primarily in getting materials.
“That has created some its share of interesting dynamics from price and availability and supply chain,” Sessa said.
For example, Sessa said all the lumber used in the project was ordered and delivered early on as a hedge against lumber prices that skyrocketed.
“We had a fair amount of challenge on just where to put things. You run out of room really quickly,” Sessa said. “It will be nice when this thing finally opens.”
Sudberry Properties
Founded: 1979
CEO/President: Colton Sudberry
Headquarters: Sorrento Valley
Business: Real Estate Developer
Revenue: $48 million
Employees: 67
Notable: Sudberry Properties has developed approximately 12.6 million square feet of commercial and residential property with a market value exceeding $2.5 billion.
Website: www.sudprop.com
Contact: 858-546-3000
Rendering courtesy of Sudberry Properties.
The Hub at Scripps Ranch will begin leasing in September.