CBRE Group announced Monday that the new Casey Brown Company has acquired the San Diego Union-Tribune property in Mission Valley for $52 million.
Doug Manchester, the former publisher of the Union-Tribune, was the seller.
CBRE will be leasing the 13-acre property, which includes a 170,000-square-foot, five-story office building and a 190,000-square-foot, three-story industrial building, which was the newspaper’s printing plant.
When the Union-Tribune was acquired by the Chicago-based Tribune Company, printing was moved to Los Angeles, and the newspaper announced it was looking to lease office space downtown.
Casey Brown Company plans to upgrade the existing office building into an amenity-rich, Class A corporate campus. The industrial building is currently being evaluated for alternative uses.
The site was also recently approved for 200 apartment units with a unanimous approval by the City Council.
“I plan to make this an iconic landmark for all of San Diego,” said Casey Brown, a commercial real estate veteran who is founder, president and CEO of the new company. “I have a great deal of respect for Doug Manchester and the Union-Tribune, and I look forward to celebrating the rich history of the campus while converting it to the next generation office environment.”
The acquisition is the first for the new Casey Brown Company. Brown was previously founder and president of BBL Commercial Real Estate, which had earlier been mentioned as a buyer of the Union-Tribune property.