Port District Backs Giving Its Old Home a New Look

The year was 1943. World War II was raging in the Pacific, and San Diego, as the site of a new strategic port, was bustling. And out on Pacific Coast Highway--then the main road from Los Angeles--a drab, almost windowless seven-story building was opened, housing hundreds of engineers who designed planes for the war.

Today, 43 years later, the plane designers are gone, as is the company that hired them, a forerunner of Convair. What remains is a drab, mainly windowless building with a “new” tenant, the San Diego Unified Port District, which bought and moved into the structure in the early 1960s.

On Tuesday, the Port District decided to go forward with a plan to renovate the building that could cost at least $2.5 million. Specifically, the Port Commission board authorized the advertising for bids for the remodeling, a plan that has been alternately on and off for several years.

At least one port commissioner thinks the renovation might be a waste of money.

“It seems a waste to me . . . I can’t say I’m for it,” said an exasperated Louis Wolfsheimer, who despite his misgivings joined a unanimous commission in voting to advertise for bids.

Wolfsheimer, a San Diego attorney, said he was frustrated because several other alternatives, such as buying new office space for the Port District or renting space in a downtown high-rise, never proved feasible. He had hoped, Wolfsheimer said, that several other government agencies would join together to construct a new, multiagency building downtown. But it’s clear, he added, that no one is pushing for such a venture.

The trouble with the building is that it’s showing its age after more than four decades of use. It doesn’t meet various building code and fire safety requirements, for one thing. (Part of the renovation would include installation of a fire alarm system.)

Even at a minimum of $2.5 million, only part of the structure would receive a face lift. The third, fourth and fifth floors--which have no windows--would be gutted and sealed off. The remodeling would take place in the basement and the first, second, sixth and seventh floors. The seventh floor, which has windows, houses the Port District’s administrative staff.

Renovation would also include the following: putting in windows on the sixth floor; a new electrical system; new plumbing; a new phone system; construction of a skylight and atrium openings; removal of asbestos insulation; strengthening of the structure; a new suspended ceiling, and various other improvements involving carpeting, painting and lighting.

A report on the remodeling notes that “interior furnishings, such as desks, tables, chairs, clocks, draperies, coat racks, planters, art work and the like, will generally be reused.”

Several years ago, the Port District did consider moving. One plan envisioned building a combination parking garage and office adjacent to the police station, but, in part, protests over the structure’s height killed the plan.

And at one time, the Port District wanted to build a World Trade Center, in which its offices would be located, on the waterfront. But further study showed the property was more valuable as a retail center, which is how it’s used today as Seaport Village.

As for the lack of windows in the building--which is easily seen from Interstate 5 near the airport--there are two explanations. One is that it was built that way because of blackout restrictions in effect during the war. The other is that because of the war, there was a shortage of steel and glass for office buildings.