On March 22, the SIOR San Diego Chapter hosted its First Annual Developers Dinner. San Diego, recognized as a growing market for commercial real estate investors, developers, tenants and brokers, was an ideal location for the regional SIOR Chapter to host the industry event.  The reception and dinner program included eight development experts who presented on key marketplace updates.  Speakers highlighted Southern California with a focus on new investment and development activity in the greater San Diego market, including highly anticipated details on specific company developments and project milestones.

For readers not able to attend the event, some key takeaways were:

The industrial market is hot

• Interest by institutional investors is changing from a desire for apartment development over the last 10-15 years to a strong demand for a larger portfolio allocation of industrial properties
• Broader institutional investor appetite for San Diego has accelerated in the last 12 months, benefiting mid-market investment firms and developers
• Rapid growth of e-commerce business in the retail sector has led to increasing demand for warehouse storage and last-mile logistics space
• Absorption, rental rate growth and overall owner and tenant activity in the industrial sector are at unprecedented levels

San Diego is new growth market for industrial

• The scarcity of available industrial space in Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Inland Empire has drawn investors, developers and tenants to consider other geographic options in the Southern California region
• San Diego is an attractive market given general economic growth and its diverse industries in electronics, biotech, tourism, and military
• With the city consistently ranked as the eighth largest by population in the U.S., there is considerable demand for land and building inventory available for its growing industry and consumer base
• Regional attention by real estate investment and development firms is concentrated on central and northern San Diego

High quality perspective is key in evolving market

• Leading industry professionals are enjoying growing demand in the industrial commercial real estate market
• Tenant requirements and demands are becoming more complex given consideration for advances in transportation and distribution technology, as well as building design and operational efficiency
• Identifying the location and understanding the deal opportunity of listed and off-market properties is becoming more complex and as such, more lucrative
• As such, investors and developers are looking more to brokers to provide analysis and unique perspectives on market data for a competitive edge as the CRE market evolves

The First Annual Developers Dinner, an invitation-only event for SIOR members, received roughly 60 attendees at the beautiful Cucina Enoteca restaurant in Del Mar, California.