Broadway 655 Developer Avoids Lawsuit

SAN DIEGO-Lankford & Associates, the developer of Broadway 655, learned a bit of good news on its 23-story class A office project earlier this week,when an agreement was reached between Lankford and Webcor Builders. The lawsuit filed last month by Webcor over the development will now be settled through an informal mediation. “I am confident we can work out our differences [which are related to the construction of the project],” says Rob Lankford, president of Lankford & Associates.

John Bowles, general counsel of Webcor adds, “we will be working together to settle the issues in a fast and productive manner.” That’s good news for Lankford, who has tenants ready to move in within the next few weeks.Lankford’s $140-million building sits at the southeast corner of Kettner and Broadway. The 410,000-sf, mixed-use project counts 356,000 sf of office space and is billed as the first class A office space to go up in the area since 1991.The project has been in the works for years and by December 2003, it had secured and closed financing. The financing, which was arranged by Newport Beach-based Buchanan Street Partners, includes a $72-million construction loan from US Bank and Wachovia Bank and a $26.4-million investment from National Electric Benefit Fund and Lewis Trust Group Ltd. Besides the office space, design plans call for 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. About half of the facility’s office space was preleased, with the law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP having signed on as an anchor tenant with more than 135,000 sf. In February 2004, the property landed another tenant when Best, Best & Krieger signed a lease valued at more than $6 million to occupy a full floor of the project. According to the terms of the 10-year lease, BBK will occupy Broadway 655′s 16th floor, which encompasses a total of 19,887 sf. The agreement includes two five-year renewal options, according to Lankford. Other companies that have committed to leases include Peterson & Price; Webcor; Five Star Parking; and Lankford & Associates.