The massive $1.3B Manchester Pacific Gateway project in downtown San Diego will get underway following demolition of the Navy Broadway complex on South Broadway between Pacific Highway and Harbor Drive that began last week, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Spread over 12 acres, the project will provide a 17-story building to serve as the U.S. Navy's regional headquarters, four office buildings, two hotels, a museum, a retail promenade and a 1.9-acre park.

Local developer Doug Manchester won the Navy’s 99-year lease for the site in 2006. The Navy has occupied this site since the 1920s. The $4.5M demolition of the Naval complex is expected to take six months. Manchester will not open any components of the 3M SF, eight-block complex before the entire development is completed in 2020.

The Navy originally had asked Congress to fund a new regional headquarters in the 1980s. When the project failed to receive an appropriation, then-Rep. Bill Lowery (R-SD) won approval to get the Navy a new building at no cost to taxpayers in exchange for granting a developer the rest of the site for commercial development.

A string of legal battles ensued, the most recent alleging that the Navy did not adequately consider whether the project is vulnerable to terrorist attacks. A federal appellate court cleared the way for the project, determining there is no significant impact from the possible environmental effects of a terrorist attack.