R. Michael Murphy has always been bullish on Otay Mesa. Indeed, his first venture there dates back nearly three decades.
And he’s still building near the border.
Late last year, his firm broke ground on a new building in Siempre Viva Business Park. It’s something of a milestone because it’s the first speculative project to go up since 2007. Remember 2007? We all know what came next. It was not a pretty time for any part of the real estate sector.
It’s been nine long years since the recession hit, and Murphy believes the time is ripe to take the leap. After all, the industrial vacancy rate in Otay Mesa was below 10 percent when he broke ground. It had risen as high as 23 percent at one point.
In 2014, his firm began grading Brown Field Technology Park (BFTP), a $300 million project that will boast more than 2 million square feet of corporate industrial, technology and office space. It is the firm’s fourth Otay Mesa development.
“BFTP offers potential tenants state-of-the-art architectural design, exceptional landscaping, large setbacks and LEED-inspired energy efficiency, coupled with San Diego’s lowest occupancy costs,” Murphy said at the time.
He has cited many reasons for building in Otay Mesa, including freeway access, improvements coming to Brown Field and the new pedestrian walkway between Otay Mesa and Tijuana International Airport called Cross Border Xpress.
However, his firm isn’t just focused on Otay Mesa. Two years ago, it purchased the corporate headquarters site owned by Intel in Scripps Ranch. The firm plans to turn that 31-acre site into Scripps Ranch Technology Park.
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