Just several years ago, plans called for Downtown San Diego’s waterfront to include an expanded Convention Center, a 1,000-room headquarters hotel for the expanded center, and ultimately a baseball park across the street.
The only part of that plan that has come to fruition is the expansion of the Convention Center, which officially opened for business in September.
The ballpark plan is still on hold because of several legal disputes and a federal investigation into the actions of former city councilwoman Valerie Stallings. The hotel, to be built on the Campbell Shipyard site, was initially to be built by local developer Doug Manchester, but that plan fell through after some development disagreements and about a $5 million cost to the San Diego Unified Port District to regain rights to the project.
Now port officials are eager to begin a new chapter in their quest to build the new hotel. The Port District recently launched an international campaign to attract a new developer for the project, which is expected to cost about $258 million.
Frank Urtasun, who chairs the port’s board of commissioners, said they are not starting over on the project because several things have been hammered out.
“We’re not starting at point A because the program has been decided upon,” Urtasun said. “Mr. Manchester didn’t really get to build what he wanted to build there.”
Urtasun said there were concerns with the development including, the design, location, leasehold, height, and more.
“That caused quite a few delays getting to that point,” he said. “Now, a prospective developer knows what he will be coming in to build.”
In June, the port approved a $5 million buyout of Manchester’s right to build the hotel. Urtasun said the decision was made because Manchester was focusing much of his attention on getting financing for another project , the expansion of the Hyatt Regency next to Seaport Village at One Market Place.
That buyout was expected to allow the port to put their focus on building the Campbell Shipyard hotel , a move that was welcomed by those in the tourism industry.
Reint Reinders, president of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, said a headquarters hotel for the convention center is vital if San Diego wants to compete for major conventions with other cities.
He said Downtown San Diego needs from 3,000 to 4,000 more hotel rooms to adequately serve the visitor and tourism industry. Although he said the delay in building the Campbell Shipyard hotel is not killing their business, it would have helped if it opened along with the Convention Center expansion as planned.
Convis estimated the local economy has lost tens of millions of dollars with more than a dozen large convention cancellations because of the lack of hotel rooms.
“We still have the same hotel rooms that we had four or five years ago, but we have doubled the size of the Convention Center,” Reinders said. “(The hotels) were running at 80 percent occupancy before.
“Down the road, I think we will come out of this, although delayed a little bit, and have a great future for Downtown San Diego and the visitor and convention market.”
To alert developers of the request for qualifications process, the port mailed letters and informational brochures and placed an advertisement Oct. 3 and 10 in the Wall Street Journal. The deadline to submit final proposals is Tuesday, Nov. 20.
