City Office REIT to divest Sorrento Mesa life science portfolio for $576m

City Office REIT has signed two separate agreements to divest its life science portfolio, comprising all its holdings in the Sorrento Mesa submarket of San Diego, for a total sum of $576 million.

The US-based real estate company did not disclose who the buyers are.

According to City Office REIT, the northern portion of the portfolio is slated to close in December 2021 for a price of $395 million.

On the other hand, the southern portion of the portfolio is scheduled to close in February 2023 for a price of $181 million.

City Office REIT said that it can expedite the closing date of the deals to align with redeployment opportunities. Both the transactions will be contingent on customary closing conditions.

City Office REIT to divest Sorrento Mesa life science portfolio for $576m

James Farrar — City Office REIT CEO said: “Since our initial acquisition of properties in Sorrento Mesa in 2017, we have re-positioned, re-tenanted, renovated and strategically enhanced our portfolio.

“The resulting aggregation of life science assets and over one million square feet of zoned life science development potential created an extremely valuable portfolio.

“This is an exciting, transformational transaction for the Company. The sale and redeployment positions us to complement and elevate the quality of our office portfolio through acquisitions across some of the highest employment and population growth cities in the south and west.”