Escondido Vote Stirs Talk of Downtown Boom

Just that quick, things have begun turning around for the future of this city’s downtown.

Developers Wednesday were calling City Hall to discuss proposals for new office buildings and hotels; leasing agents were enthusiastically talking about bringing in new businesses, and merchants were talking about everything coming up roses.

All this comes on the heels of Tuesday’s special election authorizing construction of a $52-million civic center and cultural arts complex, which is expected to serve as the catalyst in revitalizing the downtown area.

The vote for the center, Propositon A on the ballot, was 6,477 (53.8%) in favor and 5,551 (46.2%) opposed. Less than 31% of the city’s registered voters turned out for the single-issue election.

Mayor Ernie Cowan referred to election day as “Day One for the renaissance of Escondido.” Other city officials were equally exuberant.

“Already, I’ve had a half-dozen calls from office and hotel developers who were interested in building here. All they were waiting for were the positive results of the election,” Rod Wood, the assistant city manager, said Wednesday.

“Their calls prove what we were saying all along--that this project would be a tremendous economic stimulus for the community and downtown in particular,” Wood said.

Nancy Johnston, a leasing agent who represents the owners of the Midtown Plaza shopping center on Escondido Boulevard, situated directly across the street from the cultural arts center site, called Tuesday’s election “very positive.”

“We’ll be going ahead with plans to build two additional buildings in the shopping center, because they will be excellent restaurant sites given the location,” Johnston said.

“The new City Hall and civic theater will give a new, central focus to the downtown area that has been lacking for some time.”

George Friederich, an officer for Home Federal Savings and Loan, which is adjacent to the new City Hall site, said, “This project will save the downtown area the way downtowns in other cities were not saved” because they were not similarly bolstered.

Porter Johnson, an established downtown businessman who has weathered years of economic ups and downs, reacted this way to the passage of Proposition A: “I’m as happy as a bird dog! We know we won’t be seeing changes overnight, but we know now that things are on the move.”

The new center will feature a 2,500-seat performing arts theater, a 500-seat community theater, a 25,000-square-foot fine arts and local history museum, a 25,000-square-foot mini-convention hall for meetings and banquets, an 80,000-square-foot regional government office building, and an 84,000-square-foot City Hall.

The buildings will be constructed adjacent to, and partly within, Grape Day Park in the downtown area. The City Hall will be built on the northwest corner of Valley Parkway and Broadway, while the cultural facilities will be constructed on the east side of Escondido Boulevard between Valley Parkway and Woodward Avenue.

Next on the city’s agenda is the selection of architects to develop the center’s master plan and the specific components of it.

Pacific Associates Planners Architects (PAPA), the San Diego-based design firm that last year won a nationwide competition for the overall basic design of the civic center complex, already has been hired to specifically design the City Hall. PAPA also will serve as overall architectural consultant for the entire project.

Wood said any number of architectural firms may be involved in the entire project. “There may be one firm with great expertise in designing a performing arts theater, and another that is specially qualified for the government office building,” Woods noted.

Ground breaking for the City Hall is scheduled for October, with occupancy expected by December, 1986. The existing, aging and undersized City Hall, at Grand Avenue and Valley Boulevard, already has been purchased by Palomar Memorial Hospital to allow for expansion of the hospital.

Ground breaking on the balance of the cultural arts center may occur as early as the fall of 1986, with occupancy of some of the facilities by late 1987 or early 1988. Parts of the center, including the performing arts theater, may not be completed until late 1989, Woods said.

The specific construction time depends on the availability of construction capital, Woods noted. Money will be raised through the sale of redevelopment bonds, backed by tax-increment revenue to be generated as the area’s property tax base grows in value.

The redevelopment agency’s first income check will be received in January and is expected to total $800,000 to $1 million, Wood said. Based on initial forecasts, “the money will be coming in at a faster rate than the time it will take to construct the project.”

Marvin Gilbert, president of the Escondido Chamber of Commerce, said he was not surprised by the immediate positive response from developers to the passage of Proposition A.

“It’s that kind of spinoff that we expected to be generated by the center. That’s why it’s going to be so helpful in revitalizing and maintaining our downtown area.

“I’m tickled by the outcome of the election--even though it was a little closer than I expected,” Gilbert said.

Indeed, Proposition A lost in 10 of the city’s 33 precincts, and overall it won by less than 1,000 votes out of more than 12,000 cast.

Ron Bittner, a former Escondido mayor and the most vocal opponent of the redevelopment project because of concern that it would leave city taxpayers holding the bill for a white elephant, said Wednesday he was “disappointed but not bitter” by the results.

“I thought we could win,” he said. “We made a pretty good stab at it. But the public has a great craving for recreation, and they liked this fantasy land, pie-in-the-sky cultural arts center. I still doubt if it can ever be built.

“But the important thing is, this was the democratic process and those who were opposed to it had the opportunity to be heard. The public has made up its mind and I can accept that. Theirs is the final word.”