San Diego Development News

jayOOfoshO said:

Think Tank: Stadium Task Force Makes Strong Case

By LOU HIRSH
Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A mayoral task force’s recently announced plan to finance a new $1.1 billion San Diego Chargers stadium makes a compelling case for the Mission Valley site, but raises questions regarding long-term maintenance costs, according to an analysis by National University System Institute for Policy Research.

Researchers at the locally based think tank said estimates of revenue streams identified by the Citizens’ Stadium Advisory Group are “reasonable and consistent with other financing plans put forth in other cities.”

However, more may be needed to operate and maintain the stadium than the task force estimates. The policy institute estimates that the current Qualcomm Stadium operates at an annual deficit of $7.7 million -- $6.4 million in revenues minus $14.1 million in expenses.

Excluding football rents, researchers estimate, the operating deficit would increase to $10.9 million annually over the course of 30 years. The think tank said a joint powers authority recommended by the task force may need to find operating efficiencies, increase net revenue from non-football events, and/or seek additional subsidies from public sources.

Overall, the think tank said the task force’s stadium cost estimates are “reasonable but conservative,” and the financing plan is reasonable in its revenue projections. Researchers said the cost share between public and private sources, if achieved, “would constitute an advantageous arrangement for taxpayers in a mid-level market such as San Diego.”

The policy institute undertook its own analysis of more than 30 case studies related to U.S. municipal and stadium projects over the past several months, which has been released to the public. Some of that data was incorporated in the plan released May 18 by the stadium task force.

The citizen advisory group outlined $1.4 billion in potential funding options to build a new Mission Valley stadium that it estimated would cost $1.1 billion and not involve raising taxes. Potential money sources include the city, the county, the Chargers and the NFL, and proceeds from the sale of land adjacent to the stadium that would be sold to private developers.

City, county and team officials are now mulling the advisory group’s plan as part of upcoming negotiations.

http://www.sdbj.com/news/2015/may/20/think-tank-stadium-task-force-makes-strong-case/

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Pinnacle lives up to its name: 46 stories high

Pinnacle International, the Canadian residential developer, doesn't have to hype the name of its latest project in downtown San Diego.

At 46 stories, Pinnacle on the Park is the tallest apartment building downtown.

And the 1,834-square-foot penthouses (plus 1,100-square-foot, second-floor decks) go for $10,000 per month.

The 484-unit tower with yellow highlights cost more than $150 million, the developer said, and a twin tower immediately north may open in 2019, its highlights painted red. Delayed by the recession, it took 10 years to complete.

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Town & Country getting $80M makeover

By the time the ambitious makeover is completed in early 2018, about a third of the current structures will have been bulldozed and in their place will be a grand new entryway and lobby, three new restaurants, a spa and, in the center of it all, a 2-acre water attraction, complete with a sandy beach, slides, waterfalls and a lazy river-style pool.

Also envisioned, although further off from being realized, are plans to develop on the eastern and southern fringes of the property four residential towers with more than 600 apartments that would coexist with Town and Country’s hospitality and convention facilities. As part of an entirely new master plan for the property, the hotel’s current 935 rooms, spread among two towers and low-rise bungalow-style complexes, would be trimmed to 688.

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Navy Broadway project clears coastal hurdle

The long-awaited redevelopment of the Navy's downtown waterfront property cleared its next-to-last hurdle Thursday with the announcement of a settlement between the Navy and the California Coastal Commission.

The commission dropped its lawsuit seeking to reconsider the $1.2 billion, 3.25-million-square-foot plan in exchange for new concessions from the developer, Doug Manchester, former owner of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Manchester consultant Perry Dealy said the agreement leaves one more legal impediment to starting construction Manchester Pacific Gateway on the 12-acre site between Pacific Highway, Broadway and Harbor Drive.

The project would include 2.9 million square feet of office space, including a 351,000-square-foot regional headquarters for the Navy; 1,375 hotel rooms; a 40,000-square-foot museum; 213,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; more than 3,100 parking spaces; and a 1.9 acre public park at the corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive. All would be built on land granted to the Navy by city voters in 1920 and leased in 2006 by the Navy to Manchester for 99 years.

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Study endorses bayfront center expansion

An eagerly awaited report analyzing the financial return on an expanded San Diego convention center reaffirms what its backers have long advocated: It needs to be on the waterfront.

The analysis, which will be formally released today, finds that additional convention space, no matter where it goes, will deliver an economic return. But it’s unequivocal in its conclusion that an enlarged center on the current bayfront site easily trumps a campus-like facility several blocks to the northeast when it comes to the dividends the city will reap.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said the report, prepared by Convention Sports & Leisure International, is persuasive enough that he plans to begin work anew on a bayfront expansion project, with a goal of putting on the ballot a hotel tax increase to finance it as early as next year. Such a measure would require a two-thirds majority approval by voters.

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saiholmes said:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/25/pinnacle-apartments-east-villages/

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jayOOfoshO said:

This tower is surrounded by an army of homeless crazy people who camp around the new central library during the day and move out to the tower at night.

Why would anyone want to live there. Hopefully they will do something about these people, like for example they could line them up and kick them all in the butt with some kind of butt-kicking machine so they will finally leave!

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JimmyHD said:

SD desperately needs higher buildings (750+ feet)!

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JimmyHD said:

SD desperately needs higher buildings (750+ feet)!

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Plans Revealed for San Diego "Skyway" Ride From Bay to Balboa Park

A proposed aerial cable car system that would take people from the San Diego Bay to Balboa Park was reviewed Friday and a report gave a sneak peek at what the so-called “Skyway” might look like.

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Brigantine proposed as Anthony’s replacement

The Brigantine should replace the venerable Anthony’s Fish Grotto on the downtown waterfront, says a staff report released Thursday night from the San Diego Unified Port District.

The full board is scheduled to consider the staff’s recommendation at its 1 p.m. meeting Tuesday. If approved, the new restaurant complex, “Portside Pier,” could open as early as late 2017, officials said.

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Costa Verde Center: Hotel, more shops planned

As bulldozers chew up Westfield UTC for a major expansion, Solana Beach-based Regency Centers is moving forward with a $230 million upgrade to its 26-year-old Costa Verde Center.

Located on the west side of Genesee Avenue and south of La Jolla Village Drive, the 178,000-square-foot center sports a Boxing Club, Bookstar bookstore, Bristol Farms grocery and assorted shops and eateries.

If approved by the city, the center could include a 200-room boutique hotel catering to young business travelers and add 70 percent more retail space over the next eight years. Construction is not expected to start until 2019.

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InterContinental returning to San Diego

San Diego will see the return of long absent InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, with the development of a new 400-room hotel on the waterfront in downtown San Diego.

The 19-story, $218.7 million hotel had been long planned, but it was only recently that the development team finalized plans with InterContinental to operate the luxury property.

Construction is expected to break ground by the first of the year and be completed by early 2018, said Alex Guyott, who is managing the project for the development team of Robert Lankford, Portman Holdings, and Hensel Phelps.

The same developers are already in the final stages of construction of a dual-branded 400-room hotel rising on the northern portion of Lane Field. Designed as a two-wing, 17-story building that links a 253-room SpringHill Suites and a 147-room Residence Inn by Marriott, it is expected to open in late February, Guyott said.

Helping fund Lane Field South is China Orient Asset Management, a state-owned financial institution wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance of China. It will initially be responsible for providing nearly 90 percent of the project’s equity, although it hopes to significantly reduce that ownership stake over time by selling off portions to limited partner investors, according to the port’s staff repor

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Cross-border airport bridge opens next month

Ticketed airline passengers crossing between San Diego and Tijuana will soon have a new option. A 390-foot pedestrian bridge linking Tijuana’s A.L. Rodríguez International Airport directly to Otay Mesa is set to launch operations on Dec. 9.

Users of the privately operated port of entry, called the Cross Border Xpress, will be charged for each crossing. Enrique Valle, chief executive officer of Otay Tijuana Ventures, builder and operator of $120 million facility, said Friday that the toll will be $15 for those who purchase tickets ahead of time on the facility’s website — and $18 for those who pay on location.

The only port of entry on the U.S. border that connects directly to an airport in Mexico, the Cross Border Xpress also will be the first on the California border where users will be charged a toll. Only ticketed airline passengers will be able to use the facility.

The bridge will offer these travelers a faster way to cross the border, avoiding long lines at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry. It connects the Tijuana airport with a facility on the U.S. side that includes an area for U.S. customs and immigration processing, but also airline ticket counters, currency exchange facilities, a duty-free area, and a restaurant.

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