Loch Crane / Caltrans

Industrial Developers/Loch Crane Office Building (1965) by Loch Crane in the Sorrento Valley area of San Diego

I've lived in San Diego my entire life and pass by the Sorrento Valley exit at least three times a week. Sunday was my first time taking the exit. I wasn't there to look for this Loch Crane project. but was drawn in by the breeze block that could be seen from a distance. The building is vacant and pond vegetation and algae have taken over the gutter and sidewalks. Fences are up around this property and all the neighboring buildings around the cul-de-sac. No Trespassing signs on the fence note that the property is owned by Caltrans, the state highway agency.

The reason Caltrans now owns the area is because the retaining wall they built for a freeway expansion project (seen here behind the building) caused ground water to seep into building foundations, hence the pond look on the street. Caltrans now plans to demolish the buildings.

BID proposals for the demolition went out in 2011 and can be seen here. The buildings are full of asbestos and lead.

In 2009, the Industrial Developers/Loch Crane Office Building at 3344 Industrial Court was designated historic by the City of San Diego Historic Resources Board.  According to the Historic Resource Board report, "The building site consists of a central three-story Contemporary style office building surrounded by a small courtyard and four single story buildings to the east, north and west. The complex was built in 1965 for Clark Higgins, partial owner under the name Industrial Developers Ltd, who commissioned friend and architect Loch Crane to design the project. The completed building would house Crane’s office on the ground floor, Industrial Developers’offices on the second floor, and a gym space on the third floor."

Loch Crane studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. Learn more bout him and his projects at Modern San Diego.