Homebuilders Hope to Help Housing Crisis
Syska Hennessy Group Merges With Local Firms
San Diego Real Estate
by Mandy Jackson
Homebuilders and commercial developers are looking forward to providing input into the regional plan being developed by the San Diego Association of Governments.
“Generally speaking, builders realize many of the problems we have are regional and have regional solutions,” said Mike Neal, president of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County and president of H.G. Fenton Co., a San Diego-based real estate owner and developer.
Neal said the BIA makes sure it has an opportunity to comment on land planning for the region.
“The BIA and BIA staff is in an excellent position to take a leadership role to address the housing shortage, roads, parks and open space. There are so many parts that fit together,” he said.
Mike McLaughlin, a planning director for Sandag, said the agency wants to work with local builders, but the form their input will take has not been determined. A group of builders may serve as an advisory group to Sandag’s existing policy advisory committee.
“Very early on, we talk to them about housing and housing shortages,” McLaughlin said. Homebuilders are an important group in the discussion of connecting land use to transportation, so residents can easily access jobs and services, he said.
In the past, commercial developers have not participated in planning processes to the extent of homebuilders.
McLaughlin said a shortfall of land for commercial development hasn’t been projected, but commercial developers may be able to help Sandag address the connection of jobs and homes. The agency has not yet sought input from the commercial real estate community.
Jeff Burges, chief operating officer of Yale Properties USA in San Diego and a vice president of the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, said every group in the county has to voice in on the regional plan.
“A regional plan is really the road map of the development of our community,” Burges said. “It is impossible to allow the community groups to have input and disallow the business community.”
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Expanding: Syska Hennessy Group, a consulting, engineering, technology, and construction firm, is expanding its local capabilities after merging with San Diego-based Van Buuren Kimper Engineering and Ericson Lighting Design.
Syska Hennessy has added lighting design, electrical engineering and health care-oriented services with the merger. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles and New York.
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Association Contract: The Walters Management Co., based in San Diego, has been selected to manage the 157-acre, 222-unit Brookside community in Escondido, developed by New Urban West of Santa Monica.
Lynn Smith of Walters Management has been named community manager for the community’s two homeowners associations.
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Sycamore Vista Contract: San Diego-based Smith Consulting Architects has been retained by Dallas-based developer Trammell Crow Co. to design the construction documents for the three-building, 273,946-square-foot Sycamore Vista Business Park planned for a 17.5-acre site on Sycamore Avenue in Vista.
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New School: Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. of San Diego has started construction for Sunset Elementary School in the San Ysidro School District. The new $14.6 million, 72,000-square-foot school will replace the existing campus, which will be razed when the new school is completed in the fall of 2003.
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Completions: Pacific Rim Pointe, a two-building, 153,000-square-foot office and industrial project at State Route 125 and Airway Road in Otay Mesa has been completed. The developer is Pacific Rim Pointe LLC, designer is Ware Malcomb of San Diego, and the general contractor is Lister Construction of Escondido. The new $3.5 million, 10,500-square-foot child development center for Cuyamaca College at 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway in El Cajon, designed by NTD Architects of San Diego, was recently completed. The contractor is Kvaas Construction Co. Inc. of La Mesa.
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Final Notes: Robert Pinnegar has joined the San Diego Association of Realtors as vice president of government and public affairs. Previously, he was director of public affairs for the San Diego County Apartment Association. Re/Max Associates has opened its 14th San Diego County office at 445 Marine View Dr. in Solana Beach. Re/Max Distinctive Properties will serve Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar, Carmel Valley and Solana Beach. San Diego-based Pacific Coast Foam provided exterior architectural shapes and accents for the 245-room Kearny Mesa Courtyard by Marriott in the San Diego Spectrum business park at 8651 Spectrum Center Blvd. Shea Homes San Diego is building the second phase of Sycamore Ridge in the Chula Vista community of Eastlake Trails. Phase 2 includes 93 units in triplex-style townhomes starting in the high $100,000-range.
Send residential and commercial real estate news to Jackson via fax at (858) 571-3628 or via e-mail at
mjackson@sdbj.com.
Call her at (858) 277-6359, Ext. 114.
