Construction: Mixed-Use Project Likely to Break Ground in Fall of 2002
After three years of planning, McKinnon Broadcasting Co. has received final approval of the revised plans for its mixed-use project Downtown, which will house the broadcast studios and offices for KUSI-TV and 194 apartments near the San Diego Convention Center.
Kip Howard, president of Allegis Development Services Inc., is the development manager for McKinnon Properties Inc., which controls the broadcasting company’s real estate interests. Howard said the project was fully approved by August 2000.
“Then we started refining the design, and to such an extent that it required new approvals,” he said.
“(McKinnon Broadcasting and KUSI) had very strong ideas about the building they wanted and specifically the type of architecture. They’re trying to capture an authentic Spanish colonial type of architecture, which is a challenge in a high-rise,” Howard said.
The architect for the 26-story, 390,000-square-foot building is Seattle-based Callison Architecture Inc.
Peter Bryan, a spokesman for San Diego City Councilman Byron Wear, said there was no one who spoke in opposition of the project at the Oct. 9 City Council meeting where the project was approved by the council, sitting as the Redevelopment Agency.
“It’s quite an improvement over what was originally proposed,” Bryan said.
Alleviating Neighborhood Concerns
Downtown residents , especially in the adjacent Harbor Club condominium towers , had some concerns about noise and sight lines because of the outdoor performance area, Bryan said.
The revised design moved the performance area further out of the view of Harbor Club residents, and shortened the video screens and reader boards to help keep them out of the condominium owners’ sight lines, according to a report by the Centre City Development Corp., the city’s downtown development agency.
The building’s site is bounded by Island and J streets and First and Second avenues. J Street, between First and Second avenues, is reserved for a public plaza in the design for the site.
McKinnon Properties purchased the site, where a parking facility is located, in December 1996. Howard said the building is the last new project to be developed in the Marina District.
Mike McKinnon, general manager of KUSI, said the site was chosen because “it connected us with people traveling in San Diego , it’s near the Convention Center.”
With its current offices and studios in Kearny Mesa 10 miles away, it’s difficult for reporters to get speakers from the Convention Center into the studio for an interview, McKinnon said. KNSD-TV, which is moving from Kearny Mesa to the 225 Broadway building Downtown in the fall, “will be four to five blocks out of the action,” he said.
Watching The Operation
McKinnon said KUSI and McKinnon Broadcasting likely will take 80,000 of the 126,000 square feet of office space on the first six floors for office and support staff, and may take up to 100,000 square feet. KUSI will use all of the ground floor office space for its studios.
“The first floor takes up essentially the entire block,” Howard said, with about 47,000 square feet of office, lobby, retail and restaurant space. He envisions a branch bank at First and Island, and small supportive retail shops off of First Avenue.
Pedestrians walking along First Avenue and through the new public plaza, and people seated in the building’s restaurant will be able to see into the television station’s ground-floor studios and control rooms.
KUSI will use the J Street plaza for live interviews, broadcasts and performances. Two 11-foot by 14-foot screens will be mounted in the plaza, with text running across reader boards between them.
“It ought to be one of the top tourist attractions in Downtown San Diego,” McKinnon said.
The television station plans to use the outdoor plaza for live interviews and events. McKinnon said the station is interviewing people to host a talk show, which could eventually be syndicated.
A large exterior deck is designed for the third floor. On the seventh floor, a spa with an outdoor pool is planned. The eighth through the 26th floor will be occupied by 194 luxury apartments.
Apartments will range in size from 600 to 3,000 square feet, in studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments, and penthouses. Rents have not been set.
But, Howard said, “The location requires a higher-than-market rate rent.”
Three levels of underground parking will be provided. The main entrance to the building will be from the corner of Island Street and Second Avenue, through a grand courtyard.
“Even though we’ve changed the design, the schedule is being maintained,” Howard said. Plans are to break ground in the fall of 2002 with construction lasting about two years. The building is expected to open in fall of 2004.
Since the project has been approved by the City Council, the next steps are to prepare the construction drawings and firm up the financing. The total construction cost is still being calculated, Howard said.
“Mixed-use is interesting to finance,” Howard said. Rental housing is easier to finance, especially in the current tight housing market. Because of that, and with the office space half full, many lenders are showing interest in the project, he said.
Leasing agents for the commercial and residential components have not been selected yet. San Diego-based Reno Contracting Inc. is the general contractor.
McKinnon said McKinnon Properties will probably keep its 35,000-square-foot building in Kearny Mesa after the new building opens and lease it to a user that would be interested in using the building’s infrastructure.
Allegis is a two-person firm started in 1989 as an adviser to property owners on new construction. Before starting Allegis, Howard worked for San Diego-based Manchester Resorts on its Hyatt and Marriott hotels adjacent to the convention center.
