Tired but Excited Hahn Sees a Dream Come True

When the tour had come to an end, Ernest Walter Hahn was standing on a ledge inside the concrete cavern. In a few months the cavern will be the home of 500-seat and 200-seat theaters for the San Diego Repertory Theatre. Sparks from a worker’s blowtorch provided the backdrop of the moment.

A radio reporter pointed her microphone and asked this question: “Mr. Hahn, can you describe what you are feeling now?”

“Tired,” Ernie Hahn said.

“No,” he quickly added, lest any reporter take his quip seriously. “I’m really excited.”

On the eve of today’s grand opening of Horton Plaza--the $170-million project that Hahn developed as a foundation for a new downtown San Diego--Ernie Hahn was still working, guiding a tour, fielding questions and making a speech.

He also found time to take some bows. At a VIP luncheon that included other San Diego dignitaries as well as Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Hahn received a two-minute standing ovation. Later Thursday, Hahn mingled with the estimated crowd of 7,000 that attended a Horton Plaza preview party.

More than anyone else, Hahn, 66, is being credited as a visionary who will make the civic leaders’ dreams of a “world-class” San Diego come true.

“You either rebuild a downtown or you don’t,” Hahn had told about 40 reporters at an earlier press conference. As drills whirred and jackhammers clamored in the background, Hahn talked briefly about the concept of Horton Plaza as a center for retail and culture, a reason for San Diego’s suburbanites and tourists to come downtown after nightfall and on weekends.

Hahn spread the credit around, introducing John W. Gilchrist, the 40-year-old president of Ernest W. Hahn Inc., who started with Hahn as a 19-year-old gofer; Jon Jerde, the architect who oversaw Horton Plaza’s bold design, and Barbara Sussman, the graphics expert who was charged with developing the center’s eye-catching color and sign scheme. Each took a turn with the press.

But still, it was Ernie Hahn’s day.

Actually the day began ignominiously. Hahn had trouble getting past the attendants to the parking lot of the plaza.

“I said, ‘Lookit, I’m Ernie Hahn, this is my project,’ or something like that,” Hahn said at the gala Thursday night. “I finally got in.”

The son of German immigrants, Hahn started out as a small general contractor in 1946. His firm grew to be one of the largest shopping center developers in the country. The company, which in 1980 became a subsidiary of a Canadian firm, has constructed 53 regional centers and still owns 40 of them. Over the decades, Hahn also built a reputation as a straight-arrow businessman and gentleman.

Twelve years ago, the San Diego City Council moved forward on an urban renewal plan built around a major downtown retail center. The interest was so low at the time that Hahn was one of only two contractors to submit proposals.

Horton Plaza, with its dramatic design and ambitious role in a city’s redevelopment, could be considered Hahn’s crowning achievement.

Toting a portable public address system and bringing Sussman along to add her comments, Hahn weaved his way through the work site, leading a tour up “The Grand Staircase” to the main level of Horton Plaza.

He passed the topiary of dancing hippos. He paused at the landmark Jessop’s Jewelers street clock to tell how its pendulum swings 14 feet below the plaza level. He talked about the 2.2 million handset tiles on the dramatic, triangular “Palazzo” tower. The sound of construction work and the blare of a radio amplified for the workmen drowned out his comments.

Sussman took the microphone to talk about the “fiery glow” some of the colors would take on at dusk, and the “quality of luminosity” on a walkway’s ceiling. Hahn held the portable speaker aloft to help the reporters hear.

He paused at “Restaurant Row.” The restaurants won’t begin opening for some weeks. As Hahn spoke, a small sailboat set outside a nautical-themed restaurant called “The America’s Cup” toppled over in the breeze.

Hahn walked over to an opening to The Broadway. He explained that the store’s debut had been delayed until Oct. 4 because it was going to try out a new merchandising concept--a concept that forced a $2-million relocation of escalators and stairs. But Hahn said he thought The Broadway had made a good decision; after all, Nordstrom and Robinson’s are also unveiling new merchandising schemes at Horton Plaza.

Hahn paused to deal with a touchy subject--the fact that only 50 of the 140 specialty shops will be open for business today, and that none of the sit-down restaurants, cinemas or theaters is ready.

While trying to put the best face on the situation, Hahn acknowledged some mild disappointment.

“While the public may feel, gosh, we wish more stores were open, we’re the ones suffering a deficit cash flow. They don’t pay rent until they move in,” Hahn said.

Later, he added: “Sure, everybody would like to have 100 or 120 stores open . . . . But if this were North County Faire (in Escondido, now being developed by Hahn) or University Towne Centre (the Hahn project in University City), nobody would say anything.”

Soon, Hahn’s tour was underground in the cavern that will become the theaters for the San Diego Rep. It was then that a reporter asked him how he felt --the kind of question asked when the questions are dying away.

But another question came that got Hahn excited. What about plans to expand? Could another major department store be built on to Horton Plaza?

Although it was true he had given Neiman-Marcus co-founder Stanley Marcus a tour of Horton Plaza the day before, and it was true that Marcus was very impressed, Hahn said he doubted that Neiman-Marcus would move in because it was already doing so well in Fashion Valley.

Hahn was pondering the possibilities. “It would have to be a unique store . . . maybe a Bonwit Teller . . . or a Bullock’s Wilshire,” he said.

“But that’s some time in the future.”