Electrical contractor Dynalectric Co. views landing business Downtown as an opportunity to leave its mark on San Diego’s most high profile construction market.

“Downtown is the focus of San Diego now because it’s changing so dramatically,” says Phil Petersen, vice president of operations for Dynalectric. “It’s the place to be. Like Torrey Pines for hightech.”

The firm is working on the the second tower at the Hyatt Manchester Grand Resort. This project is familiar to the company since it was the electrical contractor on the original building. Dynalectric also is in the game at the Omni San Diego Hotel and at Staybridge Suites and upgrading 707 Broadway.

Providing electrical contractor services to San Diego since 1985, it would be easier to list the projects Dynalectric hasn’t worked on than the hundreds it has.

The company has handled more than $450 million of electrical work in the area. Some of the bigger Centre City projects it has wired include Symphony Towers, Weston Hotel, One America Plaza, Cityfront Terrace, U.S. Grant and San Diego International Airport (Terminal II).

Petersen says the residential market (Downtown) will provide key business opportunities for the next several years. “Once the residential (development) is done, then there will be entertainment and restaurant projects,” he says. “Then the office market should pick up.”

Downtown San Diego has the potential to become a southern version of Toronto, an urban area that greatly impresses Petersen. He is proud to be part of what is going on and anxiously awaits seeing it achieve its glory.

Electrical installation technology in new projects is much more than wiring sockets. It includes security and fire systems, sound and video technology, heating and air conditioning and telecommunications and data services. Dynalectric works on everything from upgrading existing buildings to designing the insides of complicated laboratories and wiring systems that talk to one another.

Jobs come and go, some even slip through the cracks — as in the case of One Santa Fe Place. But new prospects Downtown pop up regularly. Petersen says the company sits down with developers to map out plans for new projects and currently has several in the works, although under wraps.

— Maria L. Kirkpatrick