SAN DIEGO – H.G. Fenton Company has acquired the largest remaining piece of employment land located west of El Camino Real in Carlsbad – a 53-acre parcel located on El Camino Real at the future extension of Salk Avenue – for $7.5 million. H.G. Fenton Company, working with Newport National Corporation, plans to develop a yet to be named office and R&D business community with approximately 400,000 square feet of space.

Located on the northeastern rim of the popular master-planned Carlsbad Research Center, this campus will offer spectacular back canyon views to the west, north and east, and is being designed to offer companies a superior business location in one of the North County’s most desirable areas.

The parcel was sold to H.G. Fenton Company by Gordon Fox and Dean Miller.  It features 24.6 net usable acres, and will be entitled and subdivided into five lots by H.G. Fenton Company.  Newport National Corporation (NNC) has already committed to develop about 225,000 square feet of Class A office space in four buildings on Lots 2 and 3. Lots 1 and 4 are also planned for development by H.G. Fenton Company, and Lot 5 is slated for open space.   Grading on the project is expected to begin in September 2004, with construction on the first phase of development expected in early 2005.

“In addition to its very advantageous location near Carlsbad Research Center, this parcel is not subject to Average Daily Trip (ADT) constraints and therefore has no limitation on the amount of space that can be built,” said Mike Neal, president of H.G. Fenton Company. “This is significant considering there is a limited supply of available land for development in Carlsbad, with very little new construction planned in the near-term as a result. This campus will help meet the space needs of growth-oriented companies who currently have few options to choose from.”

Because this site is ideally situated on the northeastern rim of Carlsbad Research Center, rather than in it, tenants will not be subject to dues and restrictions.

“In essence, companies locating in this project will have all of the benefits of a Class A development in the popular Carlsbad Research Center/Palomar Airport location – along with lower operating costs,” said Scott Brusseau, principal in NNC.  “The spectacular setting of this project, coupled with its generous lot sizes, combine to make it a one-of-a-kind development opportunity in today’s tight market. It will offer leading edge space in a well thought out campus environment developed by two of San Diego’s most experienced commercial real estate development and acquisition firms.”

With nearly 3 million square feet of office and industrial buildings developed or acquired in San Diego County, H.G. Fenton Company’s reputation as one of San Diego’s most reliable turnkey developers is growing.  By 2020, the company expects that its industrial development portfolio will top 4 million square feet, providing homes for more than 400 businesses throughout San Diego County.

“We are very proud of our reputation as a ‘go to’ developer and are actively seeking more land to meet the needs of our San Diego tenants,” said Neal.  “While we are very well known for million-square-foot-plus master-planned communities that we develop on land we own, in recent years we have expanded our focus to include smaller undertakings as well.  Our foremost concern has always been, and continues to be, to provide quality places for people to work and live.”

In addition to projects including its 1-million-square-foot Mission Valley Heights business community in Mission Valley, which is nearing completion, and new 1-million-plus-square-foot Fenton Technology Park which is under construction in Sorrento Mesa (and the future home of Biosite), H.G. Fenton Company owns and manages projects in key areas of San Diego County.  In Carlsbad, the company owns five business centers including Carlsbad Crossroads and the recently acquired Carlsbad Corporate Center. Additionally, H.G. Fenton Company owns and manages eight apartment communities totaling 2,119 units throughout San Diego County, and is under construction on Portofino, a 396-unit apartment community in Mission Valley called Portofino.

NNC, based in Carlsbad, has developed 4.7 million square feet of office, industrial and commercial space in Southern California since its founding in 1973.

“NNC’s entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with its 25-year track record in San Diego commercial real estate development, gives it a unique edge in the acquisition, development and management of prime real estate,” said Brusseau.

Over the past two years alone, NNC has completed or begun development on four speculative office projects totaling 320,000 square feet – including the recently announced Rio San Diego Plaza II in Mission Valley.  Other notable projects developed locally by NNC include:  Sorrento Towers, a 314,000-square-foot Class A office campus in Sorrento Mesa; North County Square, a 650,000-square-foot mixed-use power center in Vista; and Scripps Ranch Technology Park, a 160,830-square-foot corporate headquarters campus in San Diego.

In Carlsbad, NNC has developed more than 660,000 square feet of Class A office and industrial/flex office space in projects including: CornerStone Corporate Center, a 186,000-square-foot Class A office park; The Campus, a 157,886-square-foot industrial flex/office park; Pacific Corporate Center, a 68,177 square foot industrial/flex office project; and Emerald Lake Corporate Center, a Class A office project with 83,682 square feet of space.

H.G. Fenton Company offices are located at 7588 Metropolitan Dr. in the company’s Mission Valley Heights project in San Diego.  NNC is based in Carlsbad at 1525 Faraday Avenue, Suite 100.