Keystone Arranges $36M for San Diego County Flex Buildings

1905 Aston Ave. Image courtesy of Keystone

Keystone Mortgage Corp. has delivered $36 million in financing for the acquisition of four flex properties in the North County submarket in San Diego. RAF Pacifica Group is the new owner of the assets. The financing covered four transactions involving three different undisclosed sellers, a Keystone spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive.  

All properties in the portfolio are fully occupied. Located at 1905 Aston Ave. in Carlsbad, Calif., the 48,818-square-foot Aston Corporate Building was completed in 1999 and renovated in 2017. Avenida Crossing is situated at 5993 and 5999 Avenida Encinas in the same city and encompasses 68,392 square feet. The 1987-built property underwent a renovation in 2017. Faraday Court, located at 2320 and 2330 Faraday Ave. in Carlsbad, has 40,826 square feet and was completed 33 years ago. The last property is at 10505 Roselle St. and 3770 Tansy St. in San Diego. The 35,980-square-foot Roselle & Tansy was completed in 1979 and renovated two years ago.

The Keystone debt team led by Senior Vice President James Ruiz placed the loan with a life insurance company. In one instance, the deal closed in less than 30 days. A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Vice Chairman Aric Starck brokered the property transactions. RAF Pacifica Group could not be reached for comment.

A steady, strong market

In 2018, industrial space in metro San Diego saw its first increase in vacancy so far this cycle, driven in part by 2.8 million square feet of deliveries, according to a recent Marcus & Millichap industrial investment forecast. The average vacancy of 5.4 percent, however, was still below 6 percent for the fourth year running.

Expansion among numerous pharma, life science and logistics companies “will bolster demand for the already limited stock of vacant R&D and flex buildings in the La Jolla and Torrey Pines areas as well as along Miramar Road,” the same report predicted.