Hotel’s Second Tower Receives Financing : Expansion Project Starts at San Diego Inter-Continental

A total loan commitment of $208 million, the largest ever made to a commercial developer by Home Savings of America, will result in the expansion of the Hotel Inter-Continental complex in San Diego and, in the words of its primary developer, Douglas Manchester, “create in San Diego, the finest ocean-side conference and meeting center on the West Coast.

“Home Savings’ alliance with the project has been vital to this major venture by the private and public sectors. Without its support, the hoped-for success of the project would have been adversely altered,” added Manchester, president of the La Jolla-based Torrey Enterprises Inc., who has been working for more than a year to complete a financing package that would include both the first and second phases of the project. The latest agreement was signed earlier this month.

Since its founding in 1970, Torrey Enterprises has designed, developed, owned and managed properties valued at more than $500 million, said Manchester, who also founded the state-chartered La Jolla Pacific Savings & Trust Co. in 1984.

Site excavation has been completed and foundation construction has already begun on the $90-million, 25-story second hotel tower located on the eastern portion of the Hotel Inter-Continental’s waterfront site on Harbor Drive.

The second tower, designed by the Los Angeles office of Welton Becket Associates and scheduled to open in late fall of 1987, will contain more than 500,000 square feet of space, with 700 guest rooms, a large ballroom, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a bar and a health club facility.

“San Diego will surely be a magnet for international travel and financial trade,” Manchester said, “and we are placing a great deal of emphasis on the group/meeting sector, with 70% aimed toward that market, 15% toward corporate and 15% toward the individual traveler.” The first hotel tower, opened in 1984, will have more than a 71% occupancy rate for 1985, he added.

Marina Completed

The 14-acre hotel site is part of a 37-acre parcel of land and water, more than 19 acres of which Manchester has devoted to the development of the Embarcadero Marina with 435 boat slips. The marina was completed in early 1984 as part of the $112-million first phase of the project that includes the original 25-story, 712-room tower, a separate dockside area, two swimming pools and extensive waterscaped grounds with man-made lagoons and waterfalls.

The Hotel Inter-Continental is adjacent to the new $125-million, 1.3-million-square-foot San Diego Convention Center, under construction by the Unified Port District. The second tower will be linked to the convention facility by a pedestrian bridge.

It was originally thought that the second hotel tower would be a mirror image of the first, according to Kipland Howard, senior vice president and project director for Torrey Enterprises, but it was later decided that the two structures would be more appealing if complementing rather than duplicating one another.

Appealing Statement

“What we have tried to achieve is an appealing statement of relationship between the first boat-shaped tower and the second,” observed Robert Allen Reed, senior vice president and director of special projects for Welton Becket of Los Angeles.

“The convex and asymmetrical quality of the new tower will contribute to a different visual impact of the two structures. From a downtown San Diego viewpoint, the second structure will more closely reflect the first; however, from the ocean side, west of the hotel, the view will reveal the convex nature of the new tower, and the effect of the two structures side by side will suggest clasped hands gently parted.”

The reflective-glass treatment used in the first tower will be repeated as the dominant skin material for the second tower and red balcony detailing will accent the new tower and establish design motif relationship with the first.

Same Contractor

The architect for the first tower was Hope Consulting Group, and the general contractor for both hotel towers, as well as the adjoining Convention Center, is the Phoenix-based firm of HuntCor Inc., a leading builder of stadiums, arenas and medical and automotive facilities. HuntCor is concurrently involved in the construction of the Plaza Alicante Hotel and office project in Garden Grove and the Hughes Aircraft Technology Center in Carlsbad.

In addition to the new tower and as part of Inter-Continental’s second phase, HuntCor is adding an integral four-level parking structure that will add 470 parking spaces for hotel use and provide a delivery and service area for the new building.

Interiors for the hotel were designed by Hirsch-Bedner & Associates, Los Angeles. Landscape architect for the project is Wimer Yamada Associates, San Diego.