GlobeSt.com UPDATE: JV Play for DiamondView Tower Project

SAN DIEGO–Cisterra Partners LLC, developer of DiamondView Tower, has an equity partner on the $90.5 million project. In a deal arranged by the San Diego office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, Prudential Real Estate Investors and Cisterra will joint venture on the high-rise office building, with Prudential coming aboard as an equity partner. In addition to arranging the equity investment, HFF secured $22 million fixed-rate acquisition and development debt from Pacific Life Insurance Company for the first phase of the project, according to senior managing director Tim Wright.The JV is the latest news on the DiamondView project, which has been in fast forward mode over recent months. Cisterra, which will host a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, closed on development rights to the site last December on the proposed 306,750-sf, class A office tower that will overlook Petco Park and has an expected completion date of January 2007. Among its features, the building will count a three-level subterranean parking garage at buildout.”One of the stand-out points of this project is the ability to provide suburban parking ratios,” Wright tells Globest.com. He says that downtown employees typically get 1-2 spaces per 1,000 sf, but the DiamondView project “offers up to four spaces per 1,000 sf, which is extremely rare in downtown San Diego.”The project has also experienced strong preleasing activity with around 75,000 sf of space already inked. In January, the project witnessed the signing of two major prelease agreements. Comerica Bank and Cox Communications both agreed to long-term leases. Although terms were not released on the deals, asking rents average $3.47/sf.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 4,000 sf of space on the first floor for a Downtown bank branch. With the move, Comerica will consolidate its San Diego operations. 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.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. 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.Jason Wood, development manager for Cisterra Partners, tells Globest.com that a diverse group of retailers will occupy the 35,000 sf set aside for the first floor while a health club will occupy all 40,000 sf of the second floor. “We have not begun marketing the first floor retail yet,” says Wood, who adds that his firm will look to bring in “two restaurants, boutique shops and lifestyle retail.”