Irvine Co. sold One America Plaza, San Diego’s tallest skyscraper, in a $120 million deal marking its sixth office tower sale of the past year and its exit from the struggling downtown market.
Newport Beach, California-based Irvine Co., among the state’s largest owners of commercial real estate, sold the 34-story tower built in 1992 at 600 W. Broadway, according to public filings. The buyer was Saca Development of Sacramento, which last year bought another nearby downtown tower from Irvine Co. for $44 million. Irvine Co. acquired One America Plaza in 2006 for about $300 million, according to CoStar and public data.
“We see One America Plaza as a cornerstone of a revitalized Broadway corridor, which we expect to be one of downtown’s most dynamic and evolving districts,” Saca Development spokesman Payton Saca said in a statement. Saca described the investment as “a vote of confidence” in downtown’s future business prospects.
At 500 feet high, One America Plaza reaches the limit imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration due to downtown’s proximity to San Diego International Airport. It's the sixth and final downtown tower sale since late 2024 for Irvine Co., which said last year it was planning to pare its downtown holdings to focus resources on San Diego’s University Town Center neighborhood and other high-growth areas of California.
It has also acquired and developed properties in recent years in markets like Chicago and New York. At UTC, about 10 miles north of downtown San Diego, Irvine Co. owns nearly half of the existing office inventory and recently announced plans to redevelopment some of its older buildings in that enclave to include apartments and other non-office elements.
Like many U.S. urban hubs with older office buildings, downtown San Diego has been struggling with rising vacancies since well before the pandemic fueled remote and hybrid work practices. The latest CoStar data showed downtown San Diego office vacancy at 34.5%.
Joshua Ohl, CoStar’s senior director of market analytics in San Diego, said it may be too soon to determine whether new uses could be ahead for One America Plaza, which is about 94% occupied, and neighboring buildings.
Ohl noted most of the recent buyers of downtown office towers have been smaller, family-run investment and development firms, now capitalizing on lower prices to gain a foothold in relatively high-traffic business locations.
“One America Plaza likely presented an opportunity for the buyer to gain one of downtown’s best buildings at a 60% discount to its last sale price,” Ohl said.
At $192 per square foot, Ohl said One America Plaza still sold for a higher per-square-foot price than those of other recent downtown tower deals. “It’s the largest traditional office building downtown and should continue to be in demand among occupiers seeking space there,” he said.