New year will bring building boom to Escondido

By: DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer
Fire stations, hotels, other projects on tap | Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:58 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO -- Jackhammers, scaffolding and hard hats will become very familiar images to Escondido residents during 2008, a year that will feature an unusually large number of construction projects in the city.

The new buildings will include four fire stations, a combined headquarters for the Fire and Police departments, an 11-story public hospital, two Marriott hotels, two upscale office complexes and an elaborate Lexus dealership with a restaurant inside.

"We're going to see a lot of steel and concrete in the air," said City Councilman Dick Daniels. "Much of the city will be under construction during 2008."

Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, a longtime city resident who graduated from Orange Glen High School in 1975, said she can't recall a year when so much construction was expected to take place.

"This will be a watershed year," said Pfeiler.

The construction boom is the result of Escondido becoming more attractive to the private sector at the same time that city and public hospital officials are ready to move forward with projects paid for by two bond measures approved three years ago.

City voters approved an $84.3 million facilities bond in 2004 to help the city provide adequate fire and police coverage for its 144,000 residents. The city had outgrown its ability to protect itself, but the new stations are expected to help solve that problem by reducing emergency response times and allowing police officials enough space to do their jobs effectively.

Fire Station No. 3 is scheduled to open in May on Nutmeg Street, Fire Station No. 7 will open in July on North Ash Street and Fire Station No. 6 will open on Del Dios Road in August. Ground will be broken in January or February on Fire Station No. 1 on Quince Street, which is slated to open in June 2009.

Construction has already begun on the parking garage and some infrastructure for the new police and fire headquarters on Centre City Parkway, but construction of the actual 115,000-square-foot facility will begin this spring. The $60 million headquarters is slated to open in summer 2009.

Voters in inland North County approved a $496 million facilities bond in 2004 to pay for a new Palomar Medical Center near the western edge of Escondido. A new hospital was needed in downtown Escondido to replace the existing Palomar Medical Center, which has become outdated and too small to handle projected increases in patient demand.

Crews have finished excavating the basement for the $811 million Palomar Medical Center on Citracado Parkway, and the steel framework of the 450-bed facility should be visible sometime in July. Construction on the project should be complete in 2011.

Many of the private sector projects that will be under construction in 2008 have received large financial incentives from the city. Some have criticized this practice, but city officials contend the incentives are necessary to attract quality development to Escondido and to make the city a more appealing place to do business.

About $20 million of the roughly $60 million it will cost C.W. Clark to build a downtown luxury hotel will come from the city treasury. The city has also promised $1.45 million in hotel tax breaks to the developer of a business class hotel on La Terraza Boulevard, and the city will return to Lexus half the annual sales tax the dealership generates beyond $240,000.

Clark plans to break ground on the 196-room downtown hotel during late summer or early fall of 2008. Slated to open in 2010, it will be built on a 75-space parking lot between City Hall and the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

Construction will begin next spring or summer on the 105-room Marriott business class hotel on La Terraza, which is high above the eastern side of Interstate 15. The agreement with the city requires the facility to open by April 2010. City officials have been trying for two decades to attract a hotel geared for business travelers.

Near the new hotel on La Terraza, crews will begin work next year on a three-story office building that has been designed to attract both upscale corporate clients and the attention of motorists along Interstate 15. The 43,000-square-foot building will be called The Point.

Nearby on La Terraza is another effort aimed at upscale businesses. Construction is nearly complete on the La Terraza Corporate Center, a 100,000-square-foot office complex.

Construction is already under way on the city's first Lexus dealership, but the pace of work is expected to quicken considerably after the new year begins.

Along with the usual showrooms and parking lots, the three-story luxury car outlet will include an indoor restaurant and a large "media screen" that will display landscapes and paintings instead of advertising.

The dealership will be on Ninth Avenue near Mercedes-Benz of Escondido and Discover Infiniti Escondido, and just outside the Escondido Auto Park.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.