DiamondView Tower Adds Comercia, Cox

SAN DIEGO-DiamondView Tower hasn’t broken ground yet, but the proposed office tower is already gaining steam with two major prelease agreements. Comerica Bank and Cox Communications have both agreed to long-term leases at the 15-story, 306,700-sf trophy property that will break ground later this spring and has an expected completion date of January 2007. The tower will be located in the East Village area of Downtown San Diego at the corner of 10th Avenue and J Street, near the right-field fence of Petco Park. Although terms were not released on the deals, asking rents average $3.47/sf. Early plans have office floor plates ranging from 16,000 sf to 17,000 sf on floors five to 14 and from 27,000 sf to 33,000 sf on levels two to four, with retail on the ground floor.Comerica Bank has signed on for two middle-level floors and will place the Comerica logo atop the tower as part of the lease agreement. The company will also take space on the first floor for a Downtown bank branch. With the move, Comerica will consolidate its San Diego operations. Currently, the banking operation has offices in two buildings on B Street. According to Mike Fulton, president and CEO of Comerica’s western division, the move allows the bank to expand its operations and presence in the San Diego area.David Crabb, Herb Hafter, and Craig DeMiranda of Trammell Crow Company represented Comerica Bank in the deal. Kraig Kristofferson, Nelson Ackerly and John Gross of CB Richard Ellis represented Cisterra Partner, which is the project’s developer.In the second deal, Cox Communications will take two floors on the lower levels for TV studios of Channel 4 San Diego. The channel is home to Padres baseball games. “DiamondView Tower’s location next to the Padres’ ballpark is a perfect fit for us,” says Dan Novak, vice president and general manager for Channel 4 San Diego. The station will televise more than 150 Padres games this year, according to Novak. Cox’ advertising sales group, San Diego Interconnect, will share the space with Channel 4. Jim Hughes and Zach Millrood of Equis represented Cox Communications in the deal. Kristofferson, Ackerly and Gross represented Cisterra Partners.DiamondView Tower received City Council approval in November 2004. In December, Cisterra closed acquisition rights with the Padres for the site and Prudential Real Estate Investors became a partner in the project, although no terms have been released on Prudential’s investment stake. DiamondView Tower, which is estimated at $80 million, will include 36,000 sf of ground floor retail space. Architectural firm Carrier Johnson has signed on to design the project.