CARLSBAD - The folks who sell everything from anthuriums to zinnias at the region's only wholesale floral trade center can expect the center to stay put at least until spring 2009.

The building's landlords have delayed their plans to replace the San Diego International Floral Trade Center with an office building complex, and they are in the process of renewing the leases for 35 floral business tenants, trade center manager Glee Schmidt said last week.

"We are going to be extending leases through May of 2009," she said.

Meanwhile, one of North County's flower-growing businesses is making plans to relocate the operation once the leases run out.

"Basically, we need to get something started this spring (in order to be ready in 2009)," said Chris Calkins, president of Carltas Co.

Inside a former micro-chip production facility along Avenida Encinas just west of Interstate 5, the Floral Trade Center is a flower-lovers' delight - buds in every color of the rainbow fill hundreds of five-gallon buckets, orchids beckon from multi-story display racks and evergreen boughs provide a dark backdrop for all the bright-colored flowers. Last week, the place was packed with poinsettias and holiday arrangements as well as the standard roses and carnations.

But most folks never get to peak inside - they're not allowed in. Even if they sneak in, they're not permitted to purchase anything. This market is only for people who have a floral-related resale license, such as flower shop owners and floral decorators, Schmidt said.

Competitive pricing

For about 17 years, the chilly warehouse has offered one-stop shopping for flowers and floral supplies similar to what's offered at the giant flower markets of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"If I had to drive around to look for all this stuff, it would be a pain," said Kathy Johnston, who has a stall at the floral center and also shops there.

The owner of Happy Daisies Wholesale & Design, Johnston has found a niche for herself as a floral designer for cruise ship companies.

"Right now, they're coming in hot and heavy - we get four (orders from ships) a week," Johnston said, adding that the bigger ships typically request more than 100 flower arrangements for their restaurants, lobbies and cabins.

But while there's a benefit to having everybody in one spot, there's also a downside.

"I'm a tropical (floral stall) and the guy next to me is too," Johnston said, adding that it makes pricing very competitive.

An unusual circumstance

Two years ago it looked like the place might not have much of a future.

In March 2005, the Carlsbad City Council signed off on a proposal to put in four, multi-story office buildings and a parking structure on the nearly 13-acre site. The flower growers and importers were told they could stay until February 2007.

But the office project didn't move forward as fast as initially forecast. The land's owners, the Cohen family, ended up seeking a two-year permit extension from the city's Planning Commission earlier this month.

They got more than they hoped. Commissioners gave them a three-year extension, saying they hoped this would help with the flower market relocation effort.

"I just don't see any reason not to do this given its unique situation," Commission Chairwoman Julie Baker said at the time.

The three-year timetable had been sought by Calkins. The Carltas executive said the delay is needed in order to help make it possible for his company to relocate the flower market to a nearly 50-acre site on the east side of the freeway next to region's famed tourist attraction, The Flower Fields.

Think flower fun

The new center, which would be designed with flower sales in mind, would be roughly the same size as the old facility -- roughly 150,000 to 200,000 square feet, Calkins said.

However, ordinary shoppers would be allowed in half the structure.

"What we've conceptually envisioned is something that would support the wholesale and the public, but would have them adjacent," Calkins said.

The place would be more than just a flower sales arena. It would have "fun to it as well," Calkins said. For example, think of Seattle's popular Pike Place Market where tourists often snap shots of fish-tossing employees, he added.

Although the parcel, which Carltas owns, already has the zoning to support a flower market, the project is in a holding pattern, Calkins said. He's waiting until the city finishes a new planning process for the Cannon Road region, which was required under last year's passage of Proposition D.

Prop. D, a city-sponsored ballot measure, declared that several parcels, including the potential floral trade center site, would remain as permanent "open space." That designation allows everything from soccer fields to agricultural production. The question now is whether residents will support a floral trade center for the area, Calkins said.

The city began the planning process earlier this year, has hosted two large-scale community meetings and expects to have several smaller group sessions in the coming year, city Communications Director Denise Vedder said. Tentative plans call for concluding the effort this summer, she added.

"It's kind of contingent on how much data we gather and how long (it) takes to put it all together," she said.

Meanwhile, the developers of the current floral trade center site are committed to keeping the doors open at least until March 2009, said Bill Hoffman, a consultant hired to work on the project.

"Then, depending on the economy, it could be longer or it could not," he said.

- Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.