San Diego: Projects and Developments

[dragonsky]

Seaport Village makeover an idea whose time has come

Carlsbad-based Terramar Retail Centers will lose its lease to Seaport Village’s dozens of shops and restaurants in September 2018, so this is an excellent opportunity to remake Seaport Village into something San Diegans can be proud of — and visit.

There is a lot to enjoy about the current setup, starting with its duck ponds and green space framed by kites and buskers. Now imagine it with fewer T-shirts and postcards for tourists, more dining options, more life. Of note, Monday’s Seaport Village discussion took place the same day San Diegans celebrated the opening of Liberty Public Market in Liberty Station, a food hall with more than two dozen vendors that shows how inviting public space and commerce can be.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...redevelopment/

[dragonsky]

A cluster of wineries in the Warner Springs area of San Diego County has created something that should be very familiar to longtime residents of southwest Riverside County.

“A lot of people say it’s what (the Temecula Valley) used to be,” said Tony Tiso, winemaker at La Serenissima Vineyards & Winery, one of the five wineries that makes up the North Mountain Wine Trail.

http://www.pe.com/articles/wine-7981...in-winery.html

[dragonsky]

Why San Diego Is the Top Travel Destination in MONEY’s inaugural Best in Travel Awards.

http://time.com/money/4246506/best-i...inations-2016/
http://time.com/money/4257092/san-di...tination-2016/

[dragonsky]

Bids show interest in Seaport Village

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...llage-bids-in/

[dragonsky]

Nearly 4 Years Later, Renovated Horton Plaza Park Reopens

The new park, which features open seating areas and a restored fountain, will host more than 200 events a year.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...378145331.html

[dragonsky]

Interstate 5 widening to begin late this summer
Corridor plan takes ‘holistic’ approach to transportation improvements

A massive plan to widen Interstate 5 in northern San Diego County is set to kick off late this summer and could transform one of the most heavily traveled freeways in the state.

The work is part of the $6.5 billion North Coast Corridor Program — led by the California Department of Transportation and the San Diego Association of Governments — that will ultimately stretch 27 miles from La Jolla to Oceanside. The plan includes an ambitious collection of transportation, environmental, and coastal access projects that will take shape over the next 30 years.

Key among them is adding four express lanes to I-5.

The $700 million first phase of the corridor project will begin in the next several months with freeway work in Encinitas, where an eight-lane bridge that crosses the San Elijo Lagoon will slowly be replaced with a larger, wider structure. Work will also begin on another freeway bridge that crosses the Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ect-encinitas/

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Relief for San Ysidro's pedestrian crossers
U.S. and Mexico agree to July 15 opening of PedWest lanes

Border crossers walking into San Ysidro from Tijuana can expect some relief this summer with the opening of the new PedWest entrance.

U.S. and Mexican federal officials on Thursday ended weeks of uncertainty over the start date for the new inspection lanes, announcing that they will begin processing pedestrian crossers on July 15.

The new entrance was designed with 12 lanes: 10 northbound lanes and two reversible southbound lanes that can be used for northbound traffic at peak demand times.

Part of the $741 million reconfiguration of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the entrance is a critical piece of infrastructure for some 25,000 pedestrians who cross from Tijuana to San Diego each day. At peak crossing periods, waits can stretch for two or three hours at the existing outdated facility located east of the car lanes.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ns-san-ysidro/

[dragonsky]

Seaport Village makeover: Hotels, towers, beaches
Six development teams' plans get first public look this week

Celebration Place

Highlights: 500-room hotel and 2,000-seat performing arts hall; “San Diego Spinnaker” 400-foot gondola ride; Baywalk fine-mesh walking surface extending over the water extending north from the Embarcadero Marina Park North; 200,000 square feet of new retail; 10,000 square feet of “blue” tech and commerce office space; enhanced commercial fishing facilities giving way to recreational boating facilities if the commercial uses move to elsewhere in the bay.



Embarcadero District

Highlights: Three hotels totaling 1,700 rooms; Seaport Pavilion, 18,000-seat sports and entertainment venue; up to 325,000 square feet of retail and restaurants; 125,000 square feet of “blue tech” and creative office space; Scripps Institution of Oceanography 10,000-square-foot learning center and tidepools; San Diego Symphony 2,000-square-foot performance space.



Ripley’s Aquarium of California

Highlights: 750,000-gallon shark tank, 200-foot-long moving glide path through acrylic tunnell; 50,000-gallon tank featuring coastal California marine life; 40,000-gallon with tropical fish typical of the Gulf of California; 30,000-gallon tank for stingrays; rooftop event space.



SeaPort

Highlights: 1,000 rooms in three hotels; 250,000 square feet of maritime related office space with 60,000 square feet managed by Real Office Centers for early-stage companies; 330,000 square feet of retail and restaurants and “The Catch” seafood marketplace; 25,000-square-foot cultural performance venue attached to one of the hotels; 40,000-square-foot Equinox Fitness Club; Kelly Slater Wave first-of-its-kind wave-making pool for surfing covering much of Embarcadero Marina Park North; a recreational marina with a high-diving board.



Seaport San Diego

Highlights: 1,077 rooms in three hotels, including a 225-room hostel and San Diego's first Virgin Hotel; 178,490 square-foot OdySeaCQ aquarium, designed by BIG architecture; 480-foot ThrillRide “Spire” observation tower incorporating a redesigned Ruocco Park; University of San Diego charter high school; 388,625 square feet of retail and restaurant space including room for about 40 percent of Seaport Village tenants; a floating barge with a giant movie screen and stage; a floating Olympic-sized swimming pool off G Street Mole with additional recreational uses possible once the Fish Market restaurant’s lease expires; Smithsonian virtual reality presentations; and beaches, boating and sports on Embarcadero Marina Park North, connected by draw bridge to the south park and the San Diego Symphony’s planned pops concert stage.



Tuna Harbor Pavilion

Highlights: 200-foot “San Diego Great Wheel” Ferris wheel on fishing pier or a site north of the pavilion; “Wings over the Pacific Coast” fly-over ride similar to Disney California Adventure’s “Soarin’ over California”; a “dark ride’ for families themed to tell San Diego’s maritime history; several food concepts in the pavilion including a Chesapeake Fish seafood processing, distribution and market facility, Crab Pot restaurant and bar, Klondike Brewing, Alaska Sourdough Bakery, San Diego Creamery and Salmon Cooker.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...redevelopment/

[dragonsky]

San Diego gets new stem cell center
CIRM votes $15 million to Quintiles to advance clinical trials

Moving full throttle to get stem cell treatments to patients, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine on Wednesday approved a new center to take research from the lab to clinical trials.

To be located in San Diego, the $15 million "accelerating center" will be run by Quintiles Transnational, one of the largest companies dedicated to running clinical trials.

About 300 CIRM-funded programs are progressing through various stages of research and development. These include therapies for major and costly diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and HIV. If only a fraction of these therapies reach the market, the health and financial implications would be huge.

Despite this activity in California and worldwide, very few of these experimental treatments have actually been approved. California, with its large network of stem cell-focused research and biotech companies, is regarded as a world leader in this effort.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ego-quintiles/

[dragonsky]

Google opening office in San Diego
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...sorrento-mesa/

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18,000-seat arena proposed for Seaport Village

When live-entertainment powerhouse AEG opened the 19,000-capacity Staples Center in 1999 as the largest indoor concert venue and sports arena in Los Angeles, it became a catalyst in the revitalization of the city’s downtown.

Now, AEG hopes to build a similar state-of-the-art sports and entertainment arena at the site of what is now Seaport Village in downtown San Diego. Like the $375 million Staples Center, the new 18,000-seat arena here could be privately financed.

“We consider San Diego one of the most unique opportunities available in the world today,” said AEG Facilities President Bob Newman. “This presents the opportunity to think about what the next generation for an arena in San Diego might be.”

The port’s staff is scheduled to present an analysis of the proposals to the port district board next week. After a final choice is made and approved by the California Coastal Commission, construction could begin as soon as 2019.

In addition to the arena, the proposed development would include three hotels with a combined 1,700 rooms, 325,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 125,000 square feet of office space, a 10,000-square-foot Scripps Institution of Oceanography learning center and a 2,000-square-foot area for educational and outreach activities by the San Diego Symphony.

Theoretically, the new arena here also could be home to a professional basketball or hockey team. AEG was co-developer, with MGM Resorts International, of the 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which opened at a cost of $375 million in April. Last week, the National Hockey League announced an expansion team will begin playing there this year.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...n-diego-arena/

[dragonsky]

Chargers' stadium hopes take punch to gut
California Supreme Court ruling affirms two-thirds requirement for now

The state's high court on Wednesday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that said tax increases like the Chargers’ downtown stadium initiative require approval from a simple majority instead of two-thirds of voters. The court said it will review the ruling at a time to be determined.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...rt-two-thirds/

[dragonsky]

New sport debuting in S.D.: Skatercross
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...sh-clairemont/

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Legoland California debuts its replica of One World Trade Center in its Mini Land New York exhibit area within the Carlsbad park. It’s the tallest Lego model in the U.S.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...eplica-debuts/

[dragonsky]

Last week, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, philanthropist Irwin Jacobs and representatives from the park’s many institutions stood together to announce the revival of a plan to remove vehicle traffic from the heart of the park and recirculate cars along a new bypass road to a new, 800-spot underground parking garage.

There remain major details to work out, starting with cost. The 2012 plan was estimated to cost $45 million and be financed via $31 million of private donations and $14 million in bonds that would fund the parking garage construction, but Faulconer says those figures will be revised in coming weeks. The bonds would still be paid off by charging for parking in the new garage, but that figure hasn’t been finalized, either; in 2012, that fee was pegged at $5 per visit. Last week, Faulconer told an editorial writer the amount of that fee was under review, too. In response to a question, he also didn’t rule out eliminating the fee once the bonds are paid off.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...aza-de-panama/

[dragonsky]

Scripps Research gets record $120M to change medicine

The National Institutes of Health is giving a La Jolla scientist a record $120 million to help medicine make a historic shift to treating patients based on their specific genetic makeup, lifestyle and environment.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...scripps-topol/

[dragonsky]

Seaport Village projects go to port board

Redevelopment of the 70-acre Seaport Village area on the downtown waterfront could involve as much as $1.5 billion in developer costs, 4.7 million square feet in new construction and upwards of $20 million in annual lease payments to the San Diego Unified Port District, a port staff reported concluded Friday.

Two proposals address just a portion of the site — one for an aquarium or a Ferris wheel and seafood mart . Four other bidders propose comprehensive plans hotels, much more retail space than Seaport Village currently offers, commercial office space geared to maritime and “blue-tech” businesses.

They also offer specialty uses, such as an 18,000-seat sports and concert arena; 2,500-seat performing arts center; 500-foot observation tower; 400-foot spinnaker-shaped gondola ride; and a pool outfitted with wave-making machinery.

Port officials hope to make a final decision at the end of the year and take steps toward getting construction under way by 2019.

Here are details about each bid based on the port staff analysis:

▪ Celebration Place: Manchester Financial Group proposes 1.1 million square feet of development over the entire site, including office and retail uses. Highlights include a 500-room boutique hotel, a 400-foot gondola ride in the shape of a sailboat spinnaker, 2,500-seat performing arts center and “Baywalk,” a fine-mesh walking surface extending north from the Embarcadero park. Development cost: $653 million; annual revenues, $203 million; estimated annual lease payment not provided.

▪ Embarcadero District: OliverMcMillan proposes 4.7 million square feet in the densest plan submitted. Highlights, besides office and retail, include a 18,000-seat arena operated by AEG that could serve both professional sports and concerts and other entertainment; 1,700 rooms in three hotels; and a Scripps Institution of Oceanography learning center on the park. Development cost: $1.5 billion; annual revenues, $324 million; estimated annual lease payment not provided.

▪ Ripley’s Aquarium of California: Jim Pattison Group proposes a 110,000-square-foot aquarium on 4.3 acres. Development cost: $129 million; annual revenues, $30 million; annual lease payment, $1 million. The company is asking for public financing to subsidize construction costs.

▪ SeaPort: McWhinney and DJM Capital Partners propose 1.7 million square feet over the entire site, including office and retail uses. Highlights include 1,000 rooms in three hotels; 30,000-square-foot performance and meeting space; a champion surfer Kelly Slater wave pool on Embarcadero Marina Park North and “dock and dine” facilities, which other teams also propose. Development cost: $711 million; annual revenues, $138 million; estimated annual lease payment, $10.4 million.

▪ Seaport San Diego: Protea Waterfront Development proposes more than 3 million square feet in office, hotel, retail, a University of San Diego charter school and an OdySea-run aquarium. Highlights include the nearly 500-foot-high “Spire” observation tower operated by Thrill Corp; 1,077 rooms in three hotels and hostels; a University of San Diego-sponsored charter school, a use the port’s attorney said may not be permitted on tidelands. Development cost: $1.2 billion; annual revenues, $287 million; annual lease payments at buildout, $22.5 million. The team is seeking public financing to underwrite public improvement costs on the site.

▪ Tuna Harbor Pavilion: Great Western Pacific proposes to develop only three acres of the Central Embarcadero, including a 110,000-square-foot “Tuna Harbor Pavilion” and a 200-foot Ferris whee. Development cost: $57 million; annual revenues, $8 million; estimated annual lease payment not estimated.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...-presentation/

[dragonsky]

Chargers 'convadium' plan heading to ballot
San Diego city clerk says Chargers submitted enough valid signatures for November

The state Supreme Court’s decision last month to review a lower court ruling prompted City Attorney Jan Goldsmith to say the initiative would need approval from two-thirds of voters.

And the Chargers have said that’s the threshold they expect to face.

But this week, Goldsmith said there was some chance that approval by somewhere between a simple majority and two-thirds would leave the fate of the initiative in limbo until a Supreme Court decision whether to uphold or overturn the lower court ruling.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ve-signatures/

[dragonsky]

Hotel tax hike measure makes November ballot

The Citizens' Plan, a wide-ranging initiative that would raise San Diego's hotel tax to help promote tourism and build a satellite convention center, has qualified for the November ballot.

Voters will be faced with two competing choices for raising the room tax: a Chargers plan to boost the levy to 16.5 percent to finance a downtown stadium and convention complex and the Citizens’ Plan, which would increase the rate to 15.5 percent and allow for publicly funding an off-the-waterfront convention center but not a football field.

While the Citizens’ Plan would not help pay for a new stadium, it would ease the path to building one by removing some of the procedural delays and litigation risks of the environmental review process. It also calls for setting aside Qualcomm Stadium land for parks and university-related uses, such as an expansion for San Diego State, should the Chargers no longer play there.

Briggs has said that because his measure would raise taxes for the city’s general fund, it would only require a simple majority. Use of the money for specific purposes, he has said, is merely advisory and subject to City Council approval.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...vember-ballot/

[dragonsky]

Hi-yah! Legoland ninja ride combines video-game fun with a cardio workout

A first-of-its-kind interactive dark ride at Legoland California that let riders use karate-chop hand gestures to shoot fireballs at ninja warriors combines kinetic video-game action with an unexpected upper-body workout.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/themep...503-story.html