Kirkham Ridge Biz Park Reaches Halfway Point

POWAY, CA-A new light industrial and storage complex is rising in South Poway, as McMillin Commercial is approximately halfway though the construction state of its new Kirkham Ridge Business Park located here. Slated for completion in September 2004, the project will encompass a total of 34,733 sf at build-out. For McMillin Commercial, a Corky McMillin company, the new complex represents somewhat of a departure from its previous industrial developments. “This particular project was built with the idea for a long-term hold, which is different from the projects that we’d been building in the past,” explains Vince Ferrer, a McMillin Commercial vice president. He tells GlobeSt.com that the firm’s prior industrial developments were mainly single-tenant projects “that we would lease and then sell as a triple-net investment.”Currently rising on Kirkham Way, McMillin’s new development is located in the South Poway Business Park, which is a 700-acre complex that encompasses the city’s main commercial area. This massive project was “specifically designed to meet the needs of light industrial and manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, and research and development businesses,” according to the City of Poway’s website. More than 313 businesses are presently located in the South Poway Business Park, which contains 5.7 million sf of completed product and another 900,000 sf of space currently under construction. South Poway Business Park is divided into “a variety of separately developed parks,” says Ferrer, who points out that the Kirkham Ridge property “doesn’t belong to any of the individual business parks.”The Kirkham Ridge Business Park will consist of three separate facilities at build-out, according to Nathan Ouren, a project designer with KMA Architecture & Engineering. KMA is the design architect for the $3-million project and is also providing electrical and mechanical engineering services. One of Kirkham Way’s buildings has been designed as a 10,900-sf, nine-unit, high-tech storage facility, while the other two are multi-tenant, light industrial properties that encompass 11,900 sf each. Both of the light industrial units will feature a 12-ft by 14-ft rollup door, while the storage facility will have a shared common restroom, Ouren tells GlobeSt.com. Additional amenities will include skylights in all three buildings and a patio located in the southeast corner of the 2.4-acre site. Architecturally, the complex’s most unique feature is the “layering of concrete panels that give each elevation a depth,” Ouren says. The facilities are being constructed of concrete and reflective glass.McMillin Realty Commercial is handling leasing of the Kirkham Ridge Business Park. McMillin officials expect to fill their tenant roster with a range of businesses, especially since the suites are divisible by 2,000 sf, according to Ferrer. “Being a multi-tenant industrial park, it will attract a wide variety of tenants,” he explains, adding that “with the sizes divisible to 2,000 sf, they are going to tend to be smaller, locally owned businesses.” He says McMillin’s company officials “think that the Poway industrial market is primed for smaller industrial tenants and local business owners who live in the surrounding areas of Poway, Scripps Ranch and Ramona.”