Palomar Airport Magnet for Commerce

CARLSBAD â€”  From the “Golden Triangleâ€� to the “Platinum Corridorâ€� there is a metallic ring to commercial development in San Diego’s North County.

“Platinum Corridor� is developer Dean Greenberg’s nickname for the concentration of commercial development around Carlsbad’s Palomar Airport, at Palomar Airport Road and El Camino Real, where a total of 21 million square feet of space is expected to be constructed when all the lots are sold.

Greenberg’s Centre Development is sculpting the $350-million, 333-acre Carlsbad Airport Centre from hills that offer a view of the Pacific Ocean a few miles to the west.

His neighbors include the Koll Co.’s Carlsbad Research Center, 560 acres, $500-million build-out cost; Birtcher’s sold-out Palomar Oaks Technology Park, about 80 acres south of Palomar Airport Road, and Mitsui-Fudosan’s sold-out 500-acre Palomar Airport Business Park, the pioneer in the area.

Expensive Land

Tenants in the parks include Farmers Insurance, Chrysler Pacifica Corp., Hughes Aircraft, Smith-Kline Beckman, Eaton-Leonard Corp., Sierracin-Magnedyne and Dyna Med.

Like the Golden Triangle on the eastern edge of La Jolla (bounded by Interstates 5 and 805 and California 52), Centre Development’s entry in this precious metals sweepstakes is more than just another industrial park. The land is too expensive for that, Greenberg said.

With direct access to the airport and sites that offer ocean views, the project is aimed at corporate headquarters and regional offices, either relocations from other Southland locations or new regional operation centers, he added.

As part of the $1.5-million landscaping program at Carlsbad Airport Centre, 300 tons of boulders ranging from one to 15 tons in size have been imported from the North County community of Valley Center and placed at entrances, around oaks at intersections and at the waterfall being created by Joe Del Gado of Landscape Resources Inc.

More than 40 California oaks were relocated during the site preparation, without the kind of save-the-oaks requirement common in Thousand Oaks and the Santa Clarita Valley, Del Gado said, adding that is is “rare for a developer to spend the money needed to save trees and other natural formations that are integral to the project’s final appearance.�

Centre Development, Koll and Huntington Properties, owner of property west of Centre Development’s site, have formed an assessment district to pay for the $9-million extension of College Boulevard that will relieve congestion at the busy El Camino Real/Palomar Airport Road intersection.

It’s the first instance of major road construction in Carlsbad being financed by private interests who formed the district, Greenberg said. Centre Development is also widening Palomar Airport Road and paying for traffic signals at major intersections at the entrances to the park.

OPUS Southwest Corp., a Phoenix-based national office-building firm, will construct its first San Diego County buildings in Greenberg’s project this summer. Two 45,000-square-foot office buildings will be built by OPUS on a 4.06-acre site purchased for $2.3 million, Greenberg said.

With the recent purchase of 11 acres near the intersection of Palomar Airport Road and Camino Vida Roble by MTK Corp. of America, Irvine, nearly 70% of the Palomar frontage has been acquired by major firms planning office projects, he added.