CCDC Urges Demolition of Golden Hall for Library

Golden Hall and adjacent meeting rooms at the San Diego Community Concourse should be demolished to make room for a $64-million high-rise building to house a new central library, a study released Wednesday by the Centre City Development Corp. recommended.

The CCDC board of directors is scheduled to discuss the private consultant’s report at its Friday meeting and may take action on it.

Razing the existing convention center was the most expensive of three options described in the report, which was commissioned by the City Council in April to determine how the Community Concourse could be modified to accommodate a new central library and additional city offices after the city’s new convention center opens in 1988.

The other alternatives were to adapt the existing structure at a cost of $3.3 million or to add as many as four floors to Golden Hall for $11.1 million. The report recommended against both options because neither would provide the additional space necessary to house the new library, according to Pam Hamilton, CDCC’s assistant vice president.

“There’s no question that it would be less expensive” not to raze the existing convention center, Hamilton said. “But what we think you end up with is something that meets some of your needs, but not all of your needs. We thought this was a good opportunity to meet all of the city’s present and future needs.”

A needs analysis conducted by CCDC indicated that the city will require more than 470,000 square feet in additional building space by the year 2000. Of that figure, 300,000 square feet would be devoted to a new central library, with the remainder going to new City Council chambers, new offices for council members and a new cultural arts center to complement the Civic Theater, which would not be affected by the proposed redevelopment.

The study found that adapting the convention center would yield only 109,000 square feet; adding four levels to Golden Hall would raise that figure to 183,000, while constructing the new multistory building recommended by CCDC would give the city 500,000 square feet of additional space.

The big question left unanswered by the report is whether the City Council will allocate the funds for such a large project.

“We really haven’t individually polled the members of the council, but I think the response is going to be positive,” Hamilton said. “I think the council realizes that San Diego is at a point where we need to stop, take stock and find out what our needs are. Frankly, I think some of the council members might be asking for more drastic measures.”

Another matter that must be resolved is CCDC’s jurisdiction over the Community Concourse, which is located outside the redevelopment agency’s current boundaries. The boundary of the Columbia Redevelopment Area would have to be extended four blocks, a process which could take more than a year.

CCDC was only able to conduct the study because it had a contract with the city that was separate from its redevelopment agreement. Hamilton said council members believed the agency was better qualified to examine redevelopment issues.