The former Sempra Energy tower in downtown San Diego will soon have another company name removed from its exterior, just a few months after its former co-owner, Manchester Financial Group, put its moniker on the Ash Street building.
Prominent local developer Douglas “Papa Doug” Manchester purchased a 49 percent stake in the tower last year for $20 million, from majority owner Sandor Shapery. Both recently opted to sell the building to San Diego’s Cisterra Development, which in turn will be leasing it to the city for governmental offices. The city is expected to acquire the building after 20 years, according to arrangements recently approved by the San Diego City Council.
The 101 Ash Street tower’s co-owners were recently seeking a zoning change from the city that would allow the property to be redeveloped as a mixed-use residential tower with live-work elements. But the plan encountered resistance from Civic San Diego, which wanted the property to remain office-oriented.
In the meantime, Manchester recently announced that his company will be relocating its corporate headquarters to the iconic Mister A’s Building in Bankers Hill, which he acquired for $71.5 million. Before moving to downtown last year, Manchester Financial Group was based for several years in La Jolla.
The company has a lot on its plate these days, as it is also in early financing and planning stages on a long-awaited $1.3 billion redevelopment of downtown’s Navy Broadway Complex, a mixed-use project to be called Manchester Pacific Gateway. Manchester reportedly will soon be announcing a development partner at the Navy Broadway site.
While that’s in the future, Manchester’s latest portfolio addition has strong ties to San Diego’s past.
Most recently called Fifth & Laurel following a significant renovation by its prior owners, the mixed-use, 13-story Mister A’s was developed in 1965 at 2550 Fifth Ave., by prominent local businessman John Alessio. Its most well-known tenant is Bertrand at Mister A’s, the top-floor upscale restaurant with panoramic views of the surrounding area.
In a statement, Manchester called the property “one of the most iconic buildings on the West Coast,” adding that he looks forward to “continuing the excellence in civic leadership afforded to the community by the entire Alessio family, as they have contributed greatly to the overall well-being of our city.”
“We look forward to continuing Mr. Alessio’s 50-year-old tradition of creating a terrific Christmas light show for all San Diegans to enjoy during the holidays,” Manchester said.
In the same statement, Bud Alessio, John’s son, said his family is “truly thankful” that Manchester Financial Group acquired the property. “They have a reputation for doing things right and I know will be a great shepherd with a commitment to excellence and retaining its local roots,” he said.
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Ignyta Moves Into New HQ: Locally based biotech firm Ignyta Inc. recently moved into its new headquarters at University Towne Center, occupying more than 95,000 square feet at owner BioMed Realty’s Axiom campus, which underwent a significant renovation at 4535 and 4545 Towne Centre Court. The move-in was marked in a ribbon-cutting ceremony by several San Diego civic and business leaders.
Led by CEO Jonathan Lim, Ignyta is an oncology-focused company that develops drugs geared to cancer patients whose tumors harbor specific molecular alterations, according to its website. BioMed announced earlier this year that Ignyta, with approximately 100 employees, would be relocating to the UTC campus from Coast9, a Sorrento Valley campus also owned by BioMed.
Ignyta is among several life science companies doing move-ins and expansions at UTC and other local submarkets. In a recent third-quarter life science report, the brokerage firm JLL said there are 14 companies now in lease negotiations for spaces in San Diego totaling more than 470,000 square feet.
San Diego currently has more than 375,000 square feet of new life science space under construction, JLL reported.
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Tenant Arrivals, And One Exit: J&L Eppig Brewing recently opened as the first tenant at H.G. Fenton Co.’s North Park location of Brewery Igniter, a space geared to supporting startup craft beer-makers at 3052 El Cajon Blvd. Eppig is led by brewers Nathan Stephens and Clayton LeBlanc — both alumni of Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits — who partnered on the venture with husband-and-wife team Stephanie Eppig and Todd Warshaw.
According to its website, the Eppig family has brewing roots dating back to 1866, when German immigrant Leonhard Eppig and Hubert Fischer founded a brewery in Brooklyn, N.Y. Other upcoming tenants at the North Park building have not been announced by Fenton, which opened its first Igniter in Miramar and has another on the way in Carlsbad.
In the Torrey Highlands area of Carmel Valley, the supermarket off Camino Del Sur near state Route 56 is opening Nov. 16 as Vons, following an extensive renovation of the building that very briefly housed the Northwest chain Haggen last year; before that, it was Albertsons. The parent of Albertsons in late 2014 merged with Vons parent Safeway Inc., divesting the store at 7895 Highland Village Place among several others, then reacquired the site following Haggen’s bankruptcy and quick exit from the market.
In Del Mar, fast-casual restaurant chain Flower Child plans a December opening for its first San Diego location at — fittingly — the Flower Hill Promenade retail center. The restaurant, featuring organic and healthy items including salads, vegetable dishes and grass-fed beef entrees, is among 16 brands operated in more than 50 locations in eight states by Phoenix-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, led by founder and CEO Sam Fox.
The departure to report is that of Saltbox Dining & Drinking, the on-site venue at downtown San Diego’s Hotel Palomar, which closed its doors on Nov. 7. Operator Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants plans a major renovation of the eatery at 1047 Fifth Ave., which will reopen in early 2017 as Curadero, featuring Mexican-style street food from Executive Chef Brad Kraten.
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News From Iconic Civic Hubs: The Balboa Park Conservancy recently announced that it received a $75,000 grant from San Diego’s nonprofit Parker Foundation to fund the work of a project manager who will undertake key initiatives over the next two years. Those include studies of the century-old park’s regional economic and historic value, a comprehensive tree inventory, a signage analysis to improve visitor navigation, and an examination of restoration prospects for the park’s Botanical Building.
In historic Old Town, a retail property originally built in 1873 as the Gatewood House — once home to attorney William (Jeff) Gatewood, original publisher of The San Diego Union newspaper — was recently sold to investor Elad Shasho for approximately $1.92 million.
The seller, which owned the 1,602-square-foot building at 2515 San Diego Ave. for the past 65 years, was Trup Family Survivors Trust, represented by Joe Brady of Colliers International Group Inc. Nir Aloni of Knowledge Realty represented the buyer.
Send commercial real estate and development news of general local interest to Lou Hirsh via email at lhirsh@sdbj.com. He can be reached at 858-277-8904.
