This week, we chatted with veteran developer Bernie Truax, who's in the saddle (the reference will become apparent later) on a couple of large projects, including a new corporate HQ.

Bernie tells us the company has been under construction for about 18 months in Old Town Temecula on the Truax Building, a 65k SF mixed-use office and retail building. The top floor of the four-story building will house its corporate digs, but the third floor has been fully leased for 10 years. The tenant, Cengage Learning, is an international firm that's moving more than 100 employees to Temecula, he says, so it'll be "good for the economy." (It will also help round out local Temecula bowling leagues.)

The second floor will house professional offices; on the ground floor, Truax is in negotiations with three restaurants and a bank. VP of real estate services Kelli Jones says the Cengage deal is a relocation and expansion for the educational company. One of the tenants negotiating for the second floor is a San Diego-based architectural firm that will be opening a new office in Temecula. The Truax building is the first phase of a four-phase project called the Super Block. (Sounds like a summer action movie.)

But Truax isn't done there. The firm's in the final stages of grading for Creekside Corporate Center, a 241k SF campus in Murrieta aimed at biotech and life sciences companies, hospitals, and universities, among others. In a boon to the project, Kelli notes the cities of Murrieta and Temecula collaborated on a bridge connecting Jackson Avenue and Ynez Road, previously separated by a creek, creating a new thoroughfare between the two cities.

Kelli sees activity picking up in all facets of the market: office, industrial, and retail. On the office side, companies from San Diego and Orange County, as well as local office users, are looking to expand. Truax has developed Class-A commercial office and retail buildings since 1981. Bernie's a life-long horseman and a member of the original Rancho California Caballeros, which reenacts the old trail roundups.