SAN DIEGO-An affiliate of IDS Real Estate Group of Los Angeles has purchased a 411,245-square-foot industrial building in the Kearny Mesa submarket north of this city’s downtown area. While the buyer declined to disclose the purchase price, GlobeSt.com learns from an unidentified source that the building at 4000 Ruffin Rd. and 19 acres of adjoining land sold for $50 million.

CBRE brokers Jack Fraker, Darla Longo, Barbara Emmons, Louay Alsadek, Rob Merkin and Brent Wright represented the seller, which GlobeSt.com learns is AEW Capital Management of Boston. IDS represented itself.         

The building is 85% leased. Sharp HealthCare, a medical services provider and Owens & Minor, the medical equipment company, are the largest tenants.

Both the location and the growing scarcity of land in Kearny Mesa lend attraction to the Ruffin Road property, according to Matt Aminoff, IDS vice president in charge of the firm’s San Diego office. “This is most the central location in San Diego because it is bordered by four major freeways, making for convenient access points for all parts of San Diego County.” 

The scarcity of buildable land in Kearny Mesa indicates that lease rates will rise and existing buildings will become more valuable, according to Aminoff. “It is an infill market with limited space options available,” he says. “Effectively, the supply of land is nonexistent.”

The building on Ruffin Road, dating from 1980, “could not be reproduced today,” Aminoff adds.