SDG&E; Shifts 600 Out of Downtown
Later this year, San Diego Gas & Electric will begin moving 600 of its employees from downtown San Diego to a suburban facility in Kearny Mesa, the latest in series of large-scale flights of downtown office workers.
Insolvent HomeFed Bank moved hundreds of workers from its downtown facilities to Sorrento Mesa last year and is now attempting to sell its two office towers. Failed Great American Bank has lost hundreds of downtown workers since its financial problems began three years ago, culminating in its seizure by federal regulators in August, 1991.
SDG&E; is moving the employees to a three-building complex in Kearny Mesa at the northeast quadrant of Balboa Avenue and California 163. Formerly occupied by General Dynamics, the three buildings total 200,000 square feet in floor space.
The 600 employees to be moved work in SDG&E;’s headquarters building on 101 Ash St. and in the Bank of California Building at 110 West A St. They represent 38% of the utility’s downtown work force of 1,600 employees.
David Wilken, SDG&E;’s senior facility planning analyst, said workers from its Chula Vista, Mission Valley and Morena Boulevard offices will also be moved to the Kearny Mesa site in the consolidation move. Although employees will begin moving in November, the consolidation will not be complete until February, he said.
The SDG&E; functions to be located at the Kearny Mesa site include marketing, customer service, a telephone call center, credit services, meter revenue protection, employee training and design.
Kraig Kristofferson, a downtown office specialist with CB Commercial real estate brokerage, said SDG&E;’s consolidation will have no immediate impact on the downtown office market because employees in SDG&E;’s main building will occupy the vacated space in the Bank of California building while remodeling of the headquarters building is under way.
The current average vacancy rate in downtown office buildings is 20%, Kristofferson said, up from 17% a year ago. That rise reflects the opening of the 570,000-square foot One America Plaza office building at Broadway and Kettner Boulevard Street.
