It's the biggest news to hit San Diego in months. (No, not the latest travails concerning our ex-Mayor.) We asked a couple of development experts about the impact from the California Coastal Commission's unanimous approval of the $520M San Diego Convention Center expansion.
Gary London, president of The London Group Realty Advisors, says there were about 10 hotel projects in the pipeline in the Greater Downtown area--where the Convention Center expansion matters in terms of going forward--and their feasibility and momentum are greatly accelerated now. In addition, the ability to host larger conventions has a big impact in terms of the entire Downtown redevelopment program. (Star Trek fans = Dollars.) In particular, it'll be a catalyst for the East Village, home to Petco Park and directly adjacent to where the Convention Center's next phase is planned. The message to developers and the broader public? Whether you're buying a condo or starting a business, the East Village is very much alive with two huge anchors fueling the area's market dynamics.
Once completed, the expanded Convention Center will boast the West Coast's largest contiguous exhibit space, according to the San Diego Convention Center Corp. (They could do an exhibit where they display the whole Titanic.) Gary points out that the project still faces one legal challenge, but the Coastal Commission approval was the most important hurdle by far.
You can bet that Dealy Development president Perry Dealy (whom we snapped speaking at a Bisnow event) has been watching the events unfold. He's working on three hotels as part of the Manchester Pacific Gateway project, which will benefit from having the Convention Center's third phase move forward. The Convention Center is a key economic driver not only for Downtown but for the region, he says, noting that conventioneers who stay at a hotel pay TOT taxes that go directly to the City for discretionary spending, which can be used for police, fire, parks, roads, and such. He expects the demand to stay at waterfront and downtown hotels will go up with the third phase of the Convention Center, creating more demand for new hotels as well as filling the existing ones.
A key element of the project will be a five-acre rooftop park inspired by New York City's High Line, an unused elevated freight line was transformed into an urban park. Advocates for expanding the Convention Center argued in part that it was necessary to keep Comic-Con in town. (The park might be a good place to reenact the season finale of Game of Thrones.)
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