GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Opus Finalizes Plans on 328,000-SF Site

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CARLSBAD, CA-Opus West Corp. recently acquired a 25-acre site within Carlsbad Raceway Business Park. The Phoenix-based developer has announced its plans for the project, which includes 328,000 sf of office and R&D space.Opus picked up the land, which counts 10 distinct parcels, for nearly $16.3 million from local real estate owner and developer H.G. Fenton Co. The project will be known as Opus Point.The project will offer a wide range of building types, according to an Opus official. The firm has included everything from “corporate headquarters, high-end research and manufacturing facilities to a large office campus” in its master plan, says Paul Marshall, senior vice president of Opus West.Phase I of Opus Point calls for a January 2006 groundbreaking. The project is set for completion in summer 20006, according to Marshall.The project includes a 105,950-sf, two-story office building on 7.4 acres. The building will be marketed as a potential corporate headquarters, Marshall adds. It will be available for sale or lease.Also on tap is a 62,200-sf office campus on 5.31 acres. That development includes two two-story buildings and five one-story buildings that will range from 5,000 sf to 12,500 sf. The plan is to make the buildings divisible and to offer them for sale. They will be offered in space as small as 3,500-sf individual units.Phase I will also count six freestanding R&D buildings. The facilities will range from 6,000 sf to 60,000 sf and will be available for sale or lease. The R&D development totals 160,537 sf on 12.23 acres.Opus Point will count 583,000 sf at build out. Opus West is currently completing the acquisition of 20 acres of land for Phase II of the park, which will encompass 255,000 sf of spec office and R&D buildings. The firm plans to break ground on Phase II during the fourth quarter of 2006, with a completion date of third quarter of 2007.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.