Two of the largest deals to hit this office market are the $200-million sale of the 438,960-sf Pacific Center in Mission Valley by Maguire Properties and the $200-million acquisition by Wereldhave USA of the 23-story, 380,000-sf Advanced Equities Plaza in Downtown San Diego. The Equities Plaza acquisition is the first property investment that Wereldhave has engaged in on the West Coast. The firm decided to enter the West Coast market because of the area's increasing economic activity. San Diego provided a viable option because the size of Equities Plaza will allow Wereldhave to build up a local management organization.

Wereldhave isn't the only firm looking to establish or expand its presence in San Diego. According to the CBRE study, "San Diego employment growth will remain positive as moderate expansion is expected in overall employment as well as office employment."

As regional employment expands, so has the need for customized office space. Raceway Corporate Center, a 130,000-sf office and R&D condominium project in Carlsbad, is one center offering tailored workspace to small business owners. The workspace, which could be as small as 1,135 sf or as large as 20,000-plus sf, is unique in the Carlsbad submarket, which does not provide many opportunities for such a diverse range of space within one business park. Construction begins in fall 2007 and will include six one-story buildings and one building with a second-floor mezzanine. Raceway Corporate Center will be located within the 1.5-million-sf, master-planned Carlsbad Raceway Business Park, an office and R&D park that is set to add more than 5,000 jobs to the community.