SAN DIEGO — Otay Mesa has quickly transformed into a community with dozens of new industrial projects.
While some neighbors are impressed with the economic growth, those who have decided to leave the area, have done it mainly because they are tired of San Diego's industrial center, especially with more warehouses and airport renovations coming in the near future.
From new housing, new freeways, a new border crossing, to now seeing construction for new warehouses and redevelopment at the Brown Field Airport–that's how Otay Mesa continues to change rapidly.
“Build some industrial things here and also build a hotel and some new things for the airport area,” said Rob Hixson, who is the chair of the Otay Mesa planning group, says it's all about jobs and boosting the economy.
“We have a lot of more companies coming here and bringing more jobs. So we got the Home Depot building and another that’s more in the medical manufacturing,” said Hixson.
However, with new development, there’s also constant construction and traffic.
Open land is being replaced with large warehouses, there's also thousands of diesel trucks passing through, sometimes bringing noise and pollution.
Neighbors said some people are trying to avoid it all.
“Some people don’t like being close to industrial areas, we are in Otay Mesa and to me Otay Mesa is like the truck drivers town,” said resident Adrian.
While some are leaving the area, others are staying as they see cheaper land and companies thriving near the border.
Atlas Wood Pallet Inc. business that says the Amazon warehouse has helped their company.
“It's bringing new manufacturers with it that work together with them so new distribution and new manufacturing sells for everybody,” said France Ramirez.
Cross-border trade between San Diego and Tijuana is also expected to further increase with a possible remodel of the Otay Mesa crossing.
Future developments are still far from seeing shovels hit the ground. Developers are in the process of getting permits approved.
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