Regent Properties Sheds Pair of San Diego Office Towers for 50% Loss

A Los Angeles and Dallas-based investment firm has traded two more San Diego office towers at a major discount after a similar sale in December, following Irvine Company’s lead in divesting from the city’s downtown office landscape. 

Regent Properties sold both One Columbia Place, a 27-story tower at 401 West A Street, and its neighbor Two Columbia Place, a 12-story tower across the street at 1230 Columbia Street, for a combined $103.5 million. Golden Columbia, a new real estate investment platform sponsored by San Diego’s Ganmi Corporation, purchased the properties.

The sale represents a nearly 54 percent drop from the $223.5 million that Regent spent on the towers in 2021 as part of a four-property portfolio deal, PropertyShark records show. In December, Regent likewise sold the 18-story 707 Broadway in San Diego to Vintage Housing for just $21 million. Regent had purchased that office building for $35 million as part of the 2021 portfolio acquisition, but it was vacant at the time of its sale to Vintage. 

Golden Columbia meanwhile has big plans for Columbia Place. The company said it aims to reposition the properties into an “experience-driven workplace” via a multi-phase, long-term development project. 

“People don’t come back to the office for desks alone. They come back for energy, community and convenience,” Casey Gan, Ganmi’s chief financial officer, said in a statement. “Our mission at Columbia Place is to build a complete workplace experience by integrating premium food hall concepts, best-in-class amenities, and hospitality-level service. Drawing from our experience and philosophy rooted in Japanese hospitality, an emphasis on detail, service quality, and respect for the end user, we aim to create an environment that draws employees back downtown and helps re-energize the urban core in a practical, long-term way.”

JLL’s Tony Russell, Richard Gonor, Pascal Aubry-Dumand and Ryan Taquino have been tapped to lead leasing efforts for the towers, while CBRE will serve as property manager. 

Regent has only one Downtown San Diego office tower remaining in its portfolio, the 12-story 701 B Street, according to its website. The investment firm had likewise acquired 701 B as part of the 2021 portfolio deal, though its plans for the tower are unclear. 

However, Regent’s moves are similar to Donald Bren’s Irvine Company, which in October sold its final Downtown San Diego office tower for less than half of the $300 million it paid for it two decades ago. Indeed, Irvine traded at least five downtown office towers last year, all at discounted prices, in order to refocus on its housing empire. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.