Built in 1984, the class A Wateridge Plaza office campus in Sorrento Mesa includes three low-rise office buildings. Tenants include Alaris Medical Systems and Quintiles Pacific. According to an office report by Burnham Real Estate, "Sorrento Mesa remains the county's hottest office market to-date with 1.2 million sf of net absorption in 2006--the highest of any San Diego County submarket."

Development is also heating up in Sorrento Mesa with Maguire being part of that equation. "Sorrento Mesa's development pipeline will continue to be very active in 2007," says Ron Miller, senior vice president with Burnham Real Estate. "In addition to the recently completed 145,000-sf Pacific Center III, Kilroy's 318,000-sf Cardinal Health building is well under way, and Maguire's 12-story 317,000-sf San Diego Tech Center building is scheduled to break ground in the second quarter of 2007."

Maguire had an even shorter relationship with Pacific Center. Acquired in February 2006 for $149 million, the 6.4-acre office campus includes two 10-story office buildings. Maguire bought the property from DRA Advisors, a New York investment manager. The site includes an adjacent six-story parking garage with 1,421 parking spaces. The property was 84% leased at the time of sale, with major tenants including Progressive Casualty Insurance, Preferred Employers Insurance, Countrywide Home Loan, the California Attorney General's Office and URS Corp.

Interestingly enough, Maguire very likely unloaded the high-quality Pacific Center site at the right time. According to the Burnham report, "Mission Valley is beginning to see a flight from quality as tenants look to avoid the increasing rental rates for newer class A properties, which are reaching nearly $3 per sf."

Burnham's Miller says "class B and B+ space is priced approximately 15% to 20% less per sf and landlords are maintaining the buildings in a first-class, well-kept, clean and refurbished basis to capture those tenants who will not pay the higher class A rates."