San Diego’s Del Mar Heights Road corridor is the 16th most expensive retail street in the Americas, according to a new global report by the commercial brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield.
The neighborhood, which also ranked 16th a year ago, had an average annual retail rent of $78 per square foot in the 2016 report, on par with the year-ago figure.
New York City’s Upper 5th Avenue corridor in Manhattan had the Western Hemisphere’s and the world’s highest annual retail rent, at $3,000 per square foot. The top five in the Americas was rounded out by North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Union Square in San Francisco, Lincoln Road in Miami, Fla., and Bloor Street in Toronto.
In a Cushman & Wakefield statement, San Diego Managing Director Phil Lyons called Del Mar Heights an “ideal trade area for retailers,” with an average annual household income of $170,000 within a five-mile radius. The corridor’s retail opportunities are “increasingly difficult to find,” with near 100 percent occupancy and some shop rents pushing more than $100 per square foot annually.
The corridor includes Del Mar Highlands Town Center, currently undergoing a major expansion, and the upcoming mixed-use development known as One Paseo.
The corridor is located in the Del Mar Heights neighborhood within San Diego’s larger Carmel Valley submarket, running generally between Interstate 5 and El Camino Real. Del Mar Heights is also among San Diego’s tightest and most expensive office markets.
The annual Cushman & Wakefield report tracks 462 of the world’s top retail streets.
