DiamondView Moving Forward

SAN DIEGO-With the Downtown renaissance in full swing for multifamily and retail developers, it seem that office builders will soon get a shot at a revival of their own. In one of the latest signs that the Downtown office market is beginning to bloom, the Ballpark District’s master developer JMI Realty has entered into a formal agreement with Cisterra Partners to build the $80-million DiamondView Tower office facility on a prime parcel adjacent to the Petco Park baseball stadium.The DiamondView site, known as the Right Field parcel, was initially planned for either residential or office development. And with Downtown’s residential market at the height of popularity, JMI would certainly have a “slam dunk,” if the developer built a residential project on the site, according to the firm’s executive vice president Charles Black. However, JMI Realty and the Padres feel that striking a balance between office and residential product in the Ballpark District is more important than building a surefire moneymaker, according to a company spokesperson. In fact, JMI has actually subsidized the price of the land in order to make DiamondView “viable,” Black says.Designed by Carrier Johnson, the DiamondView Tower is slated to rise at the southeast corner of 10th Avenue and J Street. At build-out, it will stand 14 stories high and encompass 229,000 sf of office space above 75,000 sf of retail space. The floor plates will average about 17,000 sf each, although the third floor will be comprised of 33,000 sf. Amenities will include a top-floor meeting/banquet room with a skybox-type view of Petco Park, state-of-the-art technology, and a potential Hall of Fame-type exhibit on the ground floor.The DiamondView Terrace project has been in the works since JMI and Cisterra signed a letter of intent last September. “It is now moving forward based upon substantial pre-leasing that has ensured the project’s ability to secure financing,” according to a JMI company statement. The development still has to secure final approval from the City of San Diego, but JMI officials say it could break ground as early as fourth quarter 2004.JMI and Cisterra’s announcement of their formal agreement to build DiamondView comes as construction has recently commenced on Lankford & Associates Inc.’s Broadway 655 office project. This $140-million development is rising at the southeast corner of Kettner and Broadway in Downtown San Diego. Upon its completion, which is scheduled for the third quarter of 2005, the project will stand 23 stories high and encompass 410,000 sf. Design plans call for 356,000 sf of office space on the top 18 floors of the facility, with 16,677 sf of restaurant and retail space, and 765 parking spaces to be located on the lower floors. An adjacent, four-story residential component is also being built.”The addition of DiamondView Tower reinforces the progress already made by the Lankford project by showing yet another strong commitment to office and providing tenants with additional space options,” says John Kratzer, president of JMI Realty.