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CARLSBAD, CA-Phoenix-based developer Opus West Corp. has purchased 25 acres in the master-planned Carlsbad Raceway Business Park for the 328,000-sf first phase of a $105-million, 583,000-sf office and industrial development that Opus plans at the business park. Opus bought the property from local developer and real estate owner H.G. Fenton Co.The Phoenix-based company plans to buy 20 acres at the beginning of next year for the second phase of the project. It will spend approximately $16 million in the two transactions.The development, which will be called Opus Point, will consist of office, R&D and manufacturing space. Construction of the first phase is scheduled to begin in January 2006, with the second phase slated to get under way following the acquisition of the additional 20 acres next year.H.G. Fenton Co. is retaining 33 acres of land on the 147-acre site for its own projects. Half of it will be reserved as open space while the rest will be subdivided into 25 parcels to build low-rise, campus-style spec and build-to-suit industrial and office space. The business park is one of three in Carlsbad for H.G. Fenton Co. Mike Neal, president and CEO, tells Globest.com that his company primarily focuses on the San Diego market. "We are seeing good activity and good demand on what we are building here," Neil says. The Carlsbad Raceway Business Park is a master-planned campus that, at build-out, will accommodate up to 1.5 million sf of industrial, R&D and office space. The park sits at the northeast intersection of Palomar Airport Road and Melrose Drive and was once home to Carlsbad Raceway, one of the nation's first skate parks.H.G. Fenton Co. acquired the land from Hudson Advisors in September 2004 for $16 million. The City of Carlsbad slated the property for commercial development to help meet growing demand for industrial and office space. Other plans for the park on behalf of H.G. Fenton Co. include the widening of Palomar Airport Road to ease congestion. The site will also accommodate an extension of Melrose Drive between Palomar Airport Road and the Vista city limits.