OCEANSIDE -- Trendwest Resort appears to have proven what many have known all along: Oceanside can be a resort town.

"Last year we averaged a 97 percent occupancy rate," said Sonia Tolbert, Trendwest's spokeswoman in Redmond, Wash. "That's about what we've seen since we opened back in 2001. When we opened it was the number one requested resort in our reservation center."

Some say the 140-unit time-share resort's success has helped rejuvenate the Oceanside Harbor and city officials hope similar developments can have the same effect downtown.

"As we all know, the business district has been hanging on by its fingernails for years," said Del Mar developer Jim Watkins, who has plans to build a time-share resort in the city's downtown redevelopment district. "I have no qualms about the feasibility of a time share in downtown Oceanside. It's the perfect family market."

Watkins owns 1.5 acres next to the Oceanside Municipal Pier. Construction is expected to start there in January 2005, on a seven-story, 136-unit time-share resort similar to Trendwest. In February, Watkins sold rights to develop the property to Fairfield Resorts, the nation's largest time-share developer.

Watkins, whose Winner's Circle real estate investment company owns nine Southern California time-share resorts, explained that Trendwest is capitalizing on the popularity of the time-share market throughout the nation and the world.

He said he was so convinced that a time share could work on his downtown property that he got a buy-in from Fairfield even before Oceanside approved his project late last year.

"I presold my property to Fairfield before Trendwest was even built," Watkins said.

Watkins has good reason to feel confident. He has owned the 43-unit Southern California Beach Club time share complex on Pacific Street in Oceanside just south of the pier.

But Trendwest, and the coming Watkins/Fairfield project represent a larger scale of time-share development than Oceanside has ever seen before.

Perched above Oceanside Harbor, Trendwest Oceanside is hard to miss with its modern ripsaw roof and bright orange, yellow, blue and white paint scheme. Trendwest is by far the city's largest time share. There are other smaller operations near downtown, but none anywhere near the size of Trendwest.

When families visit the time share, they're choosing Oceanside from a list of many other enticing vacation destinations in their time-share plans.

Trendwest offers its owners credits they can spend at any of the company's 50 resorts. There are eight other resorts in California alone as well as dozens of other U.S. locations and a slate of tropical resorts in Hawaii, Fiji and Mexico.

Alan Wilcox and his wife, Maureen, drove down from San Jose to Trendwest Oceanside for a week's stay.

Wilcox, who works for Santa Clara County, said he and his family have stayed in Hawaii but chose Oceanside this time.

"It seems to be pretty much a nice little coastal town," Wilcox said, sitting by the pool as his family enjoyed a morning swim.

Since they arrived a week ago Saturday, the Wilcox family has attended a Padres baseball game in San Diego and took a tour of Warner Bros. studios in Los Angeles. The time share is also a short walk to Oceanside Harbor and the beach, giving their kids somewhere to play that doesn't require a car ride.

He said Oceanside's location in between Los Angeles and San Diego makes it a decent jumping off point to see the sights throughout Southern California.

"It's a good place if you want to go either way," he said.

Donetta Clark of Boise, Idaho, agreed.

"We don't want to be right in the middle of the city. We like to be out of town a ways," she said Wednesday while checking in for a two-day stay with her daughter and two granddaughters.

Before even checking in Clark said there were two things that had to get done during her stay.

"Idaho is a long way from the beach so we're going to get right out there," she said. "Tomorrow we're going to the zoo."

The numbers game

Tolbert, Trendwest's corporate spokeswoman, said Oceanside made sense for a time-share development because of its location and its immediate freeway access.

"Oceanside, and just Southern California in general, is a very, very popular time-share market," she said. "We needed to have a resort in Southern California in order to tie our network together."

The time share's financial effect on Oceanside Harbor is hard to quantify.

Sales tax revenues for the harbor district have dropped from $171,021 in 2000 to $166,205 in 2003, according to city records. The resort has contributed transient occupancy tax to Oceanside, although city officials said they could not say exactly how much because it is not legally allowed to release totals for individual businesses.

However, business owners in the harbor seem to feel that Trendwest has helped their bottom lines.

John Alvarez, owner of the Nautical Bean cafe just west of the harbor's red-and-white lighthouse, said he has noticed an upswing in business since the resort came to town.

"It's probably increased my business by 15 to 20 percent," he said.

Alvarez said he has heard few complaints about Trendwest since it opened its doors in 2001.

"Most people love it," he said. "The biggest complaint I hear from people is, 'Who in the hell picked those colors?'"

He said that since the new resort has moved in, visitor traffic has been heavier in the winter months, traditionally the slowest time for the harbor.

Down the boardwalk at Helgren's Sportfishing, Don Surowiec sells fishing and whale-watching rides year-round.

He said the weather has more impact on his trade than Trendwest.

"We see a few people from there, but it doesn't keep us open," Surowiec said. "The weather and the fishing season have more to do with it. If it's sunny outside people, want to go out."

Although sales tax revenue does not seem to suggest that Trendwest has had an enormous financial impact on businesses in the harbor, Jane McVey, the city's director of economic development, noted that the vacation industry has taken a significant hit since Sept. 11, 2001.

"I don't think you can judge the success of Trendwest just by that number," she said.

She added that half of Trendwest's transient occupancy tax has been used to improve the harbor's auxiliary parking lot which sits between the resort and Harbor Drive.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com