STIRLING ENTERPRISES IN FOOTHILL RANCH, GEORGE AFB, OCEANSIDE
When they first joined the Foothill Ranch development team more than a decade ago, Dougall Agan and Chris Downey faced what seemed like a huge undertaking.
The property’s owners, veteran developers Barry Hon and Gerald Buck, wanted to transform a barren 3,000 acres in what was then still a rural part of Orange County.
“It was pretty daunting,” said Downey, who oversees financing of deals while Agan heads up marketing for The Foothill Ranch Co. “The land used to be an old cattle ranch and it was pretty rugged.”
When he wanted to take a tour of the property, Downey was told that the best way would be by horseback.
“I passed on that,” he recalled with a laugh. “But I wound up using a mountain bike, which worked pretty well.”
Today, the terrain at Foothill Ranch is much easier for Agan and Downey to navigate. More than 180 businesses call the masterplanned project home, including sunglasses maker Oakley Inc. and apparel retailer Wet Seal, which built its corporate headquarters there.
With less than 60 acres remaining to be developed at Foothill Ranch, the duo is branching out through their 2-year-old start-up venture, Stirling Enterprises.
“Barry and Gerald were at a different point in their careers,” said Agan, 37. “They were more interested in focusing on other types of business, while we wanted to expand our opportunities in real estate.”
Now with an ownership stake in The Foothill Ranch Co., Agan and Downey continue to put together deals in South Orange County. But their new venture has been forging ahead in other areas as well.
The Stirling duo is about to start on an $80 million mixed-use project in San Diego County being marketed as Ocean Ranch Corporate Centre.
As if that wasn’t enough to keep them busy, Agan and Downey have some 5,000 acres at the former George Air Force Base, now called what they hope the site will become,the Southern California International Airport.
“This is a very busy time for us,” said Downey, 48. “The market has been good and we see a lot of opportunities to do even more.”
At the request of an international trade organization, Agan left last week on a 14-day trip to Asia. He is meeting with business leaders in Japan and other countries interested in learning about new ways to develop airports devoted to handling business freight.
When he comes back, Agan will be gearing up to begin work on the first phase of the 400-acre Ocean Ranch project in Oceanside.
Agan says construction on the initial 127 acres of some 2 million square feet of mixed-use space should begin by May.
Although Agan wouldn’t comment on specifics about any impending lease deals, sources believe Stirling has received commitments from a large corporate user to be anchor tenant at Ocean Ranch.
The project is being developed as part of a three-phase plan that will eventually total close to 5 million square feet of new space in San Diego County.
The first phase is projected to cost more than $27 million to complete.
“We’re developing it along the same lines as Foothill Ranch,” said Agan. “We’ll have a real diversity of retail, industrial and office product. And most of the developers will be from Orange County.”
With such a full plate, the Stirling duo has tapped a longtime local developer, Rob Guthrie, to become a joint-venture partner.
Guthrie, 39, has been a principal at Santa Ana-based Burke Real Estate Group for the past 16 years. He will work with both Stirling and the Foothill Ranch Co.
“It’s just a wonderful opportunity for me professionally,” said Guthrie. “They will contribute land to the venture and I’ll go out and build the structures, raise the capital and obtain the entitlements as needed.”
The partnership is already talking about its first plan, which will be to develop 14 flex-tech office buildings on about seven acres at Foothill Ranch. The project is expected to cost around $8 million to complete and total 90,000 square feet.
“We’re leveraging our resources to expand to do more development,” said Agan. “Adding Rob allows us the creative flexibility to work on even more projects.”
Agan stressed that Stirling and the Foothill Ranch Co. will continue to work with other Orange County firms. He said a good example of such continued partnering with other companies is another new development at Foothill Ranch by Bob Searles’ DevCorp.
The yet-to-be-named $6.5 million project, on eight acres adjacent to where Guthrie and Stirling are building, will include three flex-tech complexes totaling 101,000 square feet.
“It will complement what Rob and Agan are doing next door,” said Searles. “The buildings I’ll be developing are a little larger than theirs will be. And my buildings will be for lease while theirs will be put up for sale, as well as offered for lease.”
Both projects are expected to start construction by July and finish sometime late in the fourth quarter. The properties are at Alton Parkway and the Foothill (241) Toll Road.
The developments are the sixth project Guthrie and Agan have worked on together at Foothill Ranch. For Searles, his development will be the fourth project he has co-developed with the Foothill Ranch Co.
The new projects come on the heels of Searles and Agan forming an alliance to build a $40 million, three-building complex at Foothill Ranch (Business Journal, Feb. 7). The 290,000-square-foot Foothill Plaza is expected to start construction in June.
Searles and the Foothill Ranch Co. also are within weeks of completing Towne Centre Plaza, a 210,000-square-foot office project.
“It’s a very active time at Foothill Ranch,” said Guthrie. “The market remains strong in South Orange County, and we have a lot more planned in future development.” n
