Design Center to Be Built in San Diego Golden Triangle
Grading has been completed for the San Diego Design Center, a 750,000-square-foot showroom facility, adjacent to the Golden Triangle area, east of La Jolla Village in Sorrento Mesa.
Scheduled for a ground breaking in January, the project is a joint venture development of I. Berman Inc. of Los Angeles and McKellar Development of La Jolla.
The $60-million first phase consists of 342,000-square-foot building spanning 17 gross acres and containing showrooms and meeting rooms. An additional 430,000 square feet of space is scheduled for development over an eight-year period in the immediate area.
By 1990, San Diego will experience a projected $2 billion in sales of home and office furnishings, said Irv Berman, architect and president of I. Berman Inc.
“The center will add a cohesive focus for this city’s fragmented design industry which has, to date, turned to the ‘Blue Whale’ (Pacific Design Center) in Los Angeles for quality showroom space.” Build-out costs are estimated at $130 million when the center is finally completed on a a total of 36 acres.
Berman added that more than 30 firms with showrooms across the United States and representing some 150 manufacturers, have already expressed written intent to lease space in the new San Diego Design Center. The first phase of the project is targeted for completion by November of 1987.
A post-modern architectural concept for the three-story center has been created by Johannes Van Tilburg & Associates of Santa Monica. The design calls for a unifying four-story central lobby area.
