Chesnut Properties has broken ground on what will become the largest office development on the West Coast. Millennia Office is a three-campus office project totaling 1.4 million square feet in the San Diego submarket of Chula Vista. All outfitted with the most cutting-edge technology, the three campuses include the THINK Campus, two buildings totaling 324,000 square feet; DISCOVER Campus, one building totaling 400,000 square feet; and the INVENT Campus, a four-building property totaling 700,000 square feet. All three campuses have the potential for expansion into what could become a 3 million-square-foot development. JLL is handling the leasing for the property, and will target large, national tech companies, which have a growing presence in the San Diego market, as well as office, medical or education tenants as well. To find out more about the project, we sat down with Lee Chesnut, principal and founder of Chesnut Properties, for an exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: What is your vision for the project?

Lee Chesnut: The vision I have for Millenia Office started when I first saw the land three years ago. As I walked on the site and saw the surrounding environment, infrastructure and housing all in place, I had this gut feeling that this was the next place to take off in San Diego for business. The land at Millenia has massive entitlements in place, and the leaders of the community have done all the work to set this up for success. I am essentially the last piece of the puzzle in making this new business region come to life. With that said, I've taken the huge entitlements and looked at a way to maximize the square footage we can offer here to create a true mega campus opportunity on these three lots. Our three campuses are named Think, Discover, and Invent and, as designed, they total about 1.4 million square feet. We chose to name the campuses in a way that represents the type of collaborative environment we hope to cultivate. Think is being marketed towards collaborative higher education, Discover to powerful research and healthcare, and Invent towards technology. These campuses have been designed with our team at Gensler to be at the highest caliber of work environments possible that contribute to your success as a business and a person. We are targeting a LEED platinum rating across the campuses and also a WELL Building gold certification, which focuses on human health and wellbeing.

GlobeSt.com: What is office demand like in this market, and how will this project cater to that demand?

Chesnut: Office demand in San Diego is strong right now with many San Diego businesses growing and thriving. We are also seeing a number of tech companies establishing a presence here with Google and Amazon recently acquiring space in the city, to name a few. Historically, the market in South County has not had a dynamic office real estate market but that is changing. The pressures to move southward are strong and there are very compelling reasons why this shift is happening. There is a huge population of skilled workforce in South County and East County who are spending countless wasted hours on our jammed highways commuting to offices in Central and North County. Our location offers a solution to that problem. By locating a business cluster in South County, like we are creating, we are offering companies a way to value their employees like never before.

Our project is also at a scale that really doesn't exist in San Diego. With the capability of our land, we can offer up to three million square feet on our three campuses. This sets us up to be able to compete with national requirements of large companies looking to establish new headquarters. That is the true aim of what we hope to accomplish at Millenia Office.

GlobeSt.com: This is the largest office project on the West Coast. What are the challenges of developing an office site at this scale?

Chesnut: One of the biggest challenges of developing a project of this size is getting it started. We knew when we set out that to design these campuses we needed to find a way to make the buildings scalable and able to be built in phases so that we could get started without waiting for the huge deal to happen. We have made huge progress towards getting started.  The Think Campus of 325,000 square feet is ready to pull permits and we are anticipating breaking ground this year.

GlobeSt.com: Amenities seem to be crucial to the project. Why have you made an effort to integrate so much technology and amenities?

Chesnut: We set out to create the best work environments possible with our project. The best work environments are places where you actually want to be at and spend time. We programmed amenities in our project like healthy food cafes, fitness centers, and outdoor spaces that will contribute to the happiness and productivity of the people that work here.

GlobeSt.com: What is your long-term business plan for this site?

Chesnut: I am looking to build and own this project for years to come. We want this place to be an anchor for the region for decades and I hope to make sure that vision for this site is preserved for the future.

GlobeSt.com: While construction has just started, have your begun leasing efforts at all? What has the response been like from potential tenants?

Chesnut: We are officially in the market talking to prospective tenants for the Think Campus as well as the other two large-scale campuses. The relationships we have made and our team at JLL have given us opportunities to meet with some dynamic companies. Although we cannot announce any leases in place yet, we have been affirmed by many conversations that lead us to believe we will be successful in leasing up space in the campus very soon. Everyone who has seen the project and been out to the site has been extremely positive and supportive of what we're doing. The story is extremely compelling for why a company would want to locate at Millenia Office.