FEATURE ARTICLE, JULY 2006

OPUS POINT OF EMPHASIS

Opus West is set to deliver office and industrial space and scalability in the San Diego area.

Opus Point will answer the call for both office and industrial space in the greater San Diego area when it opens later this year. The first phase, totaling 328,000 square feet of office and R&D space, recently broke ground with a 255,000-square-foot second phase to follow in early/mid 2007. The $105 million, 583,000-square-foot development is located on 43 acres north of the intersection of Melrose Drive and Palomar Airport Road within Carlsbad Raceway Business Park in Carlsbad.

Chris Wood, senior director of real estate for Opus West in San Diego, says the company is pleased with the scope and diversity of product in the development. “We have 14 buildings targeting a wide spectrum of end users for our master-planned project,” says Wood. “We are meeting the strong demand from small office users with seven free-standing office buildings ranging [in size] from 5,000 to 12,000 square feet. Similarly, we are offering six R&D buildings [ranging in size] from 16,000 to 60,000 square feet for sale or lease.”

Situated on 5.3 acres, the 62,562-square-foot small office campus comprises two two-story buildings and five one-story buildings. The R&D portion of Phase I includes six freestanding buildings totaling 160,537 square feet. Each building features a combination of grade level and/or dock-high loading. Also included in the first phase is a two-story, 105,000-square-foot office building situated on 7.4 acres at the signalized intersection of Melrose Drive and Lionshead Avenue.

“Each of these is situated in a manner to maximize views of the expansive open space canyons, which border the project on the north and east,” says Wood.

Phase II of Opus Point is expected to break ground early next year with completion scheduled for late 2007. Opus West is completing the acquisition of 18 acres of land needed for the development. This phase will also feature speculative office and R&D facilities.

According to Woods, the biggest challenge with the project was preparing and processing all the plans and permits needed for a development of this size. However, the process moved quickly after Opus West received all the approvals from the City of Carlsbad. “We received our permits and broke ground 13 months after commencing design, which is a faster timeframe than many of our competitors,” says Wood.

Opus West is no stranger to large office and industrial parks. The company recently completed and sold out the 320,000-square-foot Otay Crossing development in Otay Mesa, California. However, the size of the product is something new.

 “While all of the product we are developing at Opus Point is product we traditionally develop, I think that it is fairly unique for us to bring such a breadth of product to market in one phase of one project,” Wood says.

— Brianne Gloski

©2006 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.