Opus Plans 320,000 SF

OTAY MESA, CA-Opus West Corp. plans to develop an industrial park of 320,000 acres on 18 acres of land it recently acquired here from Chiquita Frupac, a Cincinnati-based producer and distributor of fresh fruit.

To be called Opus Crossings, the new development will include eight buildings, ranging in size from 22,000 sf to 78,000 sf. Construction is scheduled to begin in January on the first phase of the two-phase project, with the first phase to consist of four buildings totaling 163,000 sf. The buildings will be marketed for lease or sale, with Rob Hixson and Shane Harmon of the San Diego office of CB Richard Ellis as the listing marketing agents for the project.

Hixson and Harmon also represented both Opus and Chiquita in the land deal.

The second phase of the project will offer build-to-suit sites to potential buyers, says Matt Montgomery, Opus West’s manager of real estate development. No date has been set for the start of construction for the second phase.

Montgomery notes that Otay Mesa, located on the California-Mexican border, is California’s largest commercial land border port and one of the busiest commercial land border crossings in the United States.

The Opus Crossings development is the first project that Opus West will develop in the Otay Mesa area. It will represent a response to what Opus sees as a high demand for new industrial space in the city, which was developed in 1985 as a primarily industrial area. According to the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce, the area houses more than 1,200 companies with more than 17,000 employees and currently has more than 11,000 homes under development.

Irvine-based Opus West is currently developing or has completed five million sf of office, industrial and retail space in Orange County, San Diego, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire. The firm is part of the Opus Group of companies, one of the nation’s largest developers.