By Thor Kamban Biberman

As published in The Daily Transcript, October 18, 2004

As Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) moves ahead on the 490,000-square-foot first phase of a planned 1.3 million-square-foot facility in the Ocean Ranch Corporate Centre in Oceanside, the rest of the 400-acre business park is moving toward buildout.

"Every lot is committed for development," said Dougall Agan, Stirling Development principal.

The largest of the recent purchases was Cruzan/Monroe LLC's acquisition of 30 acres for an eventual 520,000-square-foot industrial park known as La Pacifica. The property was purchased for about $10.57 million.

"This was the largest remaining (industrial) property in Ocean Ranch," said Dennis Cruzan, Cruzan/Monroe principal. "The balance is either office hotel or retail property."

As explained by Cruzan, the first phase will consist of three buildings of 63,000 square feet, 73,000 square feet and 93,000 square feet, respectively.

Cruzan said the remainder of the development will be built out as the market dictates, but said it will likely take three to five years to complete.

Cruzan said La Pacifica might not have been possible without land priced at about $8 per square foot. This is a fraction of what is being charged in other neighboring cities.

"This allows us to develop pure industrial," Cruzan said, before stating he would not rule out the possibility that buildings could be developed like Ashworth Inc. (Nasdaq: ASHW), which has offices in the front and distribution in the back. Ashworth is headquartered in Carlsbad, but is expanding its North County presence with a 205,000-square-foot facility immediately adjacent to the Biogen Idec property.

Last month, Coldwell Banker Commercial reported the $3.7 million sale of a 7-acre Ocean Ranch parcel. The property was sold to Venture Development, a privately held firm based in Mill Valley, Calif., and will be used to develop 95,000 square foot of office/industrial condominiums. David Onosko and Ron King of Coldwell Banker Commercial/North County Properties handled both sides of the sale.

In total, there is no less than 1 million square feet of build-to-suit industrial space and about 800,000 square feet of speculative space expected to come on line within the next 12 to 18 months.

Ocean Ranch will generate more than $4 million in development impact fee revenue, Agan said at buildout.

"And it will greatly improve the jobs-to-housing ratio," Agan said.

More than 4,000 jobs are expected to have been created at buildout.

A strong development depends on strong infrastructure. Agan said Stirling has invested more than $65 million in infrastructure, and will have facilitated $1 billion worth of development upon buildout.

In addition, Biogen Idec itself is investing (in total) more than $1 billion for its facilities," Agan said.

Biogen Idec is spending $400 million to build this first phase alone.

Others that have either recently completed, or soon will have new facilities in Ocean Ranch, include Coca-Cola Bottling Co. (Nasdaq: COKE), which recently purchased a 13-acre site for a planned 80,000-square-foot manufacturing facility; and Native Floral Bouquets, which is building a 50,000-square-foot facility to house its Oceanside flower business.

Other major tenants in Ocean Ranch include Car Sound, Robert Mann Packaging, Magnaflow Performance Exhaust and One Source.

Agan noted that he has worked closely with the El Cajon-based division of the Hamann Co. and the Carltas Co. of Carlsbad to build out the Ocean Ranch development. Carltas, an entity controlled by the Ecke family of Poinsettia fame, and Hamann are developing the Oceanic Business Park within Ocean Ranch.

That project will have nearly 400,000 square feet of industrial space. The initial phase has 125,000 square feet for lease and 72,000 square feet of building for sale.

Agan added that aside from the industrial lots, there have been a few that have been committed for other uses. Stirling is joint venturing with Hamann on the last remaining parcels in the business park.

"We're planning a mixed-use project that will include a new Marriott Residence Inn," Agan said. "We're laying out a master plan now."

Agan said Stirling has also begun scouring San Diego County for the next opportunity that may present itself.