The Builders: Community Wanted Growth
PACIFIC SCENE
Greg Sadick, vice president and division manager for multifamily development for the San Diego development company, said his firm “hit the market just right” in building three developments in Escondido: a 105-unit retirement home for seniors, a 136-unit apartment complex in southern Escondido and a 264-unit “luxury apartment” complex at the corner of 9th Avenue and Valley Parkway, all in the past year.
Pacific Scene was attracted to Escondido because it was one of the more affordable communities along the explosive I-15 corridor, because it had sewage capacity for new development, “and because it’s beginning to become the hub of inland North County,” he said.
“When an area like Escondido is receptive to apartment development, it will attract apartments. Escondido was poised for development and was receptive to it. They weren’t afraid of density and the lenders were open to Escondido. And when you’ve got a successful retail mall like North County Fair, it will continue to attract a lot of people, (including) people who work at the mall and who like to live nearby in new apartments.”
But, Sadick said, Pacific Scene is finished building in Escondido, at least for now. “We’ve got three different product types on line, and we’re well positioned in the market for quite some time.”
TERRATON CORP.
Jack Raymond heads Terraton Corp., a land investor involved in joint ventures with developers on a variety of projects. In Escondido, these have included Lomas Senas, an upscale development of 306 homes on half-acre lots, and construction of the controversial Mercedes Benz dealership at I-15 and 9th Avenue.
“There are some legitimate (growth) concerns, but I’d like to think of them in terms of how to have quality-controlled growth.
“Growth is an issue evolving out of our own success and a strong economy. We’ve been blessed with a strong and vital and growing community and that can’t be achieved without certain problems. It’s time to address those problems. It’s not too late.”
He said he would like to see higher-quality apartments in Escondido, “but the problem is, they’d be more expensive and we can’t build a total community where only the wealthy can afford to live.”
DON SHORT
Don Short is responsible for building two senior citizen projects totaling 551 units on the southwest corner of Centre City Parkway and El Norte Parkway which he boasts are 97% occupied.
“Growth is self-regulating. This is a very desirable place to live in terms of the entire country and there is a lot of pressure from people moving here. They have a right to move here and find housing when they come.
“It’s easy to point the finger (at apartments), but in terms of housing value, apartments are still the best,” he said.
“We hadn’t built for several years during the early ‘80s and we tend to overreact. We kind of got carried away, and we effectively are on the verge of being overbuilt. I don’t intend to build anymore. That’s a voluntary action on my part, which has the same effect as some arbitrarily imposed growth control.
“When I see a better market situation, there may be people who would like to politically control growth, but where do we put the people who want to come here? Are we going to sentence them to the snows of Buffalo forever? Well, I can’t quite agree with that.”
ARLAND WIBERG
If slow-growthers needed the image of a villain as a campaign target, it would be Arland Wiberg, who has been characterized by city officials as the one person most singularly responsible for growth in Escondido.
Wiberg is a civil engineer who has enjoyed remarkable--and controversial--success in winning approval from the City Council majority for new residential developments, typically high-density apartments and condominiums. It was one of his projects that sparked the referendum drive against the City Council last month and several newspapers have written profiles of him.
“The press has given Jerry Harmon a head of steam and he has a real roll going,” Wiberg said last week. “I’ve been a marked man; the newspapers have done me irreparable harm. Yeah, I’m a little irritated. There wouldn’t be anything in this town if Jerry Harmon had his way.
“Well, if the general populace wants it that way, that’s the way it should be. I won’t argue. But they ought to think about all those boys out there driving nails.
“If the community wants to stop growth, fine. I’m just the dumb engineer practicing my profession.”
He’ll just take his business elsewhere, Wiberg said.
