Landing zone for high tech - Office complex near SLO airport has aeronautical appeal
Leslie E. Stevens
The Tribune, January 13, 2001
High-technology companies looking for office space in San Luis Obispo will soon have some new options.
Construction is under way on the first of a planned six-building complex next to the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. With its soaring, wing-like overhangs, the 40,000-square-foot, glass-and-steel building was designed by architects Steven Pults & Associates to fit into its aviation setting. Known as Aerovista Business Park, the 10-acre property will eventually consist of six buildings covering a total of 183,146 square feet, said project leasing agent Tom Patterson of Patterson Realty.
The offices have been designed with state-of-the-art systems to meet the needs of today’s high-technology users, Patterson said. All buildings will be fiber-optic ready with high-speed, broadband Internet access. The first building at 895 Aerovista Place is scheduled for occupancy by June, and negotiations are nearly completed to fill the space with two local software companies, Patterson said. Rarig Construction of San Luis Obispo is the builder.
According to Patterson, the project is a speculative development owned by Aeroloop LLL partners Alex Pananides, Patrick Smith and Hamish Marshall. “It is a significant financial commitment to make without having tenants in hand,” he said.
And the commitment is substantial. According to county records, permit value for the building under construction is $895,100. Permits are also in process for the second building, 48,000 square feet valued at more than $1 million.
Patterson equated the situation to the commitment of Ray Kinsela, the main character in the movie “Field of Dreams” to build a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield – “If you build it, they will come,” he said. Based on the current shortage of office space in the San Luis Obispo area, Aerovista should be able to tap into a ready pool of tenants. In an Economic Vitality Corp. survey released in June 2000 of 100 local companies, 67 respondents indicated they were planning expansions, including 34 percent in San Luis Obispo.
Asked if the partners were concerned about recent reports of a technology sector slowdown, Patterson said they have not seen any evidence yet. “The majority of companies in the SLO area still are in an expansion mode,” he said. Patterson said he was still receiving a lot of inquiries from Silicon Valley firms that view our county’s land costs and commercial rental rates as bargains. The entire business park is scheduled to be completed by June 2002.
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