The Outsized Power of ‘Smart Money’ in Shaping Office Sentiment

When Irvine Company sold One America Plaza in San Diego for about 120 million dollars, the deal marked more than the end of a single ownership. It closed the book on Irvine’s remaining downtown holdings, a dramatic shift for a city where the company’s presence once served as a stabilizing force. That exit came after years of weakening fundamentals in the city’s core. Downtown vacancy has climbed into the mid-thirties, and availability approaches half the market when shadow space is counted. Leasing volumes remain well below pre-pandemic benchmarks, and several towers originally sold as “core” assets have been trading at significant discounts.

Irvine Company may have left downtown San Diego, but its overall strategy is not a retreat from real estate. The firm still controls about 129 million square feet across its national portfolio...