Finally, Port Picks a Convention Center Builder

In a historic vote, San Diego Unified Port District commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a $118-million construction contract for a waterfront convention center--the single most expensive building project ever in San Diego.

When all the costs are tabulated, including expenses for engineering, architectural design, excavation, furnishings and the like, the center’s cost will probably exceed $140 million.

In return, an array of officials and residents--from City Hall and the Port District to ConVis and downtown shopkeepers--hope the architecturally striking edifice, with its soaring, circus-li1801789556boom and provide downtown stores and restaurants with a fresh flow of people.

Equally important, there is the belief that the center, if well-received and popular, will enhance the city’s image and allow it to compete with cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, communities long recognized as convention meccas.

Not incidentally, when the contractor formally steps onto the 11-acre job site at the foot of 5th Avenue on March 23, he will help rid the Port District of the ghosts that have haunted the project since its inception several years ago.

The last such controversy occurred last year, when the lowest bid to build the 1.75-million-square-foot structure came in $22 million over what planners had figured to spend. The Port Distr1768125472anxiety over the project.

But on Tuesday, the mood was one of optimism as a bullish Board of Port Commissioners painted a convention center future of bright days and cloudless skies. Even Ward Deems of San Diego, one of the center’s architects who was roundly criticized for last year’s bloated construction bid by many officials--including Mayor Maureen O’Connor and two port commissioners--came in for praise from Chairman Dan Larsen.

“I’m convinced we’ll have without question the premier convention center in the country,” said Commissioner Louis Wolfsheimer, in a typical comment.

Specifically, the commissioners approved the low base bid of $110.9 million submitted by the joint venture partnership of Tutor-Saliba/Perini Corp. of Sylmar, Calif. It then approved two upgrades to the center: $6 million for a Teflon-coated fiberglass roof structure, commonly known as the tents, and $900,000 for a natural-gas-powered air-conditioning system requested by the city, which will operate the center.

Construction is scheduled to take 782 days from start to finish, which is expected May 11, 1989. When completed, the center will consist of 250,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space, 100,000 square feet of outdoor exhibition space under the tents, 100,000 square feet of meeting rooms and a 2,000-car parking garage on two underground levels.

Mayor O’Connor had waged a fight against the tents, which she called unnecessary. She said the money would be better spent enlarging the center, helping pay for a new bayside trolley line to serve the structure, or increasing the facility’s budget for furnishings and equipment.

It became clear last week, however, that she had failed to persuade a commission majority. But those who supported her position, such as Wolfsheimer, voted to approve the construction contract only after assurances were made that her concerns would be addressed by the Port District in the near future.

In that same vein, Jim Granby, president of Convention Center Corp., the agency that will operate the center once it is open, said that in the next 2 1/2 years the Port District must increase the $5-million budget now allotted to furnish and equip the center. “It is substantially insufficient. . . . We will not be able to operate it properly,” Granby told the board.

He also warned that, unless something is done to improve traffic circulation, through a trolley extension, the use of more buses and realignment of Harbor Drive, the city faces a “potentially disastrous traffic impact down there.”

One disgruntled bidder, Caldwell Commercial of San Marcos, complained that it lost out in the bidding process for the tents because the company is too small. A company official said the use of Teflon-coated tents, rather than silicone-coated tents, would be dangerous because they would release toxins in a fire.

But Billy Crockett, the project’s construction manager and an employee of Fluor Constructors Inc., said Caldwell’s claim had been checked and the San Diego Fire Department had no objections to the use of the Teflon-coated tents.

In a related matter, the Port District approved additional payments to and a new agreement with the center’s architectural team totaling $1.4 million. The architects’ total bill for the project, from start to finish, is expected to be $7.7 million.