TWC Inks Consolidation Deal

SORRENTO MESA, CA-The San Diego operations of Time Warner Cable will soon have a new home. The media company’s San Diego area facilities will consolidate to a 134,000-sf office/R&D building once occupied by El Segundo-based Hughes Network Systems. TWC has the option to expand the facility an additional 80,000 sf or add a large parking structure during the length of the agreement. This latest deal provides optimism to the Sorrento Mesa submarket, which has been one of the softest markets in San Diego.TWC agreed to a 12-year lease on the property. Financial terms were not released and representatives for the company were unavailable for comment. However, a broker who worked on the deal tells Globest.com that TWC’s decision to sign the lease made sense as a consolidation play. “[TWC] had formerly been located nearby in four buildings and they were able to consolidate under one roof,” says John Jarvis, a broker in the San Diego office of the Staubach Co. “The property is a blend of warehousing functions and administrative offices, with a tech fleet located there as well.”As part of the deal, TWC will relocate some 600 area employees during the third quarter. Located on 9.2 acres at 10450 Pacific Center Court, the property was built in 1985 and offers panoramic views as well as a cafeteria and fitness facility. Jarvis and Tambra Martinez, also of the Staubach Co., represented TWC in the lease transaction. The building’s owner, LBA Realty, was represented by Rick Sparks, Doug Lozier and John Garrigan of the San Diego office of CB Richard Ellis.The lease agreement closed just after the building changed hands. In the investment deal, the San Diego office of Irvine-based LBA Realty acquired the property from El Segundo-based Hughes Network Systems for more than $17.8 million. Sparks of CBRE represented LBA Realty in the investment deal, while Grafton Tanquary of CBRE represented Hughes. “The property is situated in Sorrento Mesa where we have bought and sold many properties over the past 10 years,” says David Thomas, principal with LBA Realty. “Leasing activity has been slow in [the area] over the last four years, but we believe in the current and long term viability of the submarket and are looking to acquire more Sorrento Mesa properties.”