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PPH May Have Found New Warehouse Site

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Andrea Moss, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

Mar. 28--ESCONDIDO ---- Palomar Pomerado Health may have found a new home for its central supply warehouse, which the public hospital district has promised to relocate to Escondido from Carmel Mountain Ranch.

Bob Hemker, chief financial officer for the health district, is scheduled to meet with the district's Finance Committee behind closed doors tonight to discuss a 19,401-square-foot building on Enterprise Street in one of Escondido's industrial parks.

On Monday, Hemker said he is negotiating a purchase on behalf of the district with the building's owner. The property's physical characteristics and proximity to a future hospital that Palomar Pomerado plans to build make a good one for the warehouse, he said.

If the two sides can agree on a sales price and other terms, the purchase could be completed in time for the warehouse to move to Escondido by this fall, he said.

"Obviously, I'm keeping my options open just like we did with the land for the new hospital," said Hemker. "(But the proposed warehouse site is) a property that meets a significant portion of the criteria that we're looking for. Obviously that critiera still has to be balanced with an appropriate price structure and significant other conditions."

The building in question is virtually a stone's throw away from a 52.5-acre Escondido Research and Technology Center site that Palomar Pomerado recently purchased to house its third hospital. The $690 million hospital is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

The proposed warehouse building is in an area zoned for that use.

However, one council member ---- Sam Abed ---- expressed concern about Palomar Pomerado's desire to move its supply operations there.

"Our hope is that the entire area around the hospital will attract more medical-related uses," he said. "Warehouses don't have to be close to the hospital. ... They don't have to be in the most valuable commercial land that we have."

Abed said he planned to propose that the City Council rezone the area in question.

Part of a $1 billion expansion of Palomar Pomerado's facilities, the new hospital will replace Palomar Medical Center in downtown Escondido as the district's flagship. Agreements between the city and Palomar Pomerado require the district to revamp the existing hospital once the new facility is finished and to move the supply warehouse from Carmel Mountain Ranch now to Escondido.

The relocation is expected to generate $6 million in new sales tax revenues to the city, with the money earmarked to help pay for an extension of Citracado Parkway south from the research center to Valley Parkway.

Hemker said the district was looking for an industrial location that could accommodate 18-wheelers coming and going with supplies all day long.

"As I started looking, I said if we can get good proximity to the new hospital as well, (that would be) very attractive," he said. "I told the brokers to start looking around, tell me what's out there, so they've been doing that. This one surfaced along with a number of others."

The other potential sites are in the same general area, but the Enterprise Street building is the only site he is negotiating for at this time, Hemker said. The structure is one of two new, matching buildings set close together in an area southwest of the Escondido Auto Park.

Hemker said Palomar Pomerado has its eye on an extra-tall building with a mezzanine that provides enough room for offices, inventory and storage on both levels.

Tonight's Finance Committee meeting starts at 6 in Palomar Medical Center's Graybill Auditorium. The closed session is expected to last about 20 minutes, after which the meeting will be opened to the public.

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To see more of the North County Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.nctimes.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

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Source: North County Times

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