Second Plan Advanced for Major Project on Broadway
In an rare challenge to a major downtown development proposal, a consortium of local and national companies Wednesday announced plans to build a spectacular, atrium-connected high-rise office building along Broadway at Kettner Boulevard.
The mixed-use square block proposal for the towering structures of 24 stories or more, called the Crystal Galleria, is in direct competition with another project by the San Diego-based Starboard Development Corp., which unveiled plans in June to develop a two-block area that includes the block covered by the Crystal Galleria. The Centre City Development Corp. will ultimately decide which project will be built.
The Crystal Galleria, an $84-million mixed-use development that would include offices, retail stores, at least six luxury condominiums, a tower restaurant or private club and underground parking, would be bounded by Broadway, Kettner, India and C streets. The 3,600 square-foot condominiums are described by the developers as in the “$1-million-plus” bracket and would be on the top two floors of the project.
Starboard’s proposal is considerably larger. The $120-million project would include a 22-story office tower and an 18-story hotel and would encompass the Crystal Galleria site as well as an adjacent block to the north.
Trolley Station in Both
Both projects would incorporate a station for the San Diego Trolley extension through downtown that will connect with the bayfront and the convention center, due for completion in 1989.
The Crystal Galleria, however, would incorporate the station and tracks inside a 400-foot-tall glass atrium that connects the twin towers of the project. The tracks would slice diagonally through the project, and pedestrian bridges would connect the two towers.
Two trolley tracks would run through Starboard’s proposal as well, but the station itself would go up just three stories.
William Lewis, president of Deems Lewis McKinley, the architectural firm that designed the Crystal Galleria, said about 90% of the offices and condominiums in the project would have a view of the harbor.
The project would be built by a development consortium including the Bowlen Group, whose real estate arm is based in San Diego and which developed the First Interstate Plaza in downtown San Diego; the Mellon Stuart Co., a Pittsburgh-based firm that would be the general contractor for the project; and Cethron Inc., a small company that already controls about half the development site.
The Crystal Galleria package was put together after Starboard announced its plans June 16. The Centre City Development Corp., a city agency that approves major downtown developments, by law must give property owners at proposal sites the opportunity to come up with their own proposal. In this case, the property owners, led by Cethron, responded by forming the consortium to plan the Crystal Galleria.
An Unusual Challenge
The challenge marks one of the few times in San Diego downtown redevelopment history that two property owners have made major proposals for the same site. (While Cethron and its associates own just over half of the one-block property it wants to build on, Starboard has an option to buy half of the site it wants to develop.)
CCDC will probably decide between the two proposals within two weeks, said spokeswoman Kathy Kalland. The San Diego City Council must also approve the decision.
Kalland said she welcomed the fact that two developers are competing for the same site and said the competition is testimony to downtown’s revitalization.
“I think it’s an excellent sign. Downtown has been on the rebound and has reattained its reputation as the status business address,” she said. “There really is an explosion of interest and actual action in development in western downtown.”
Kalland noted that until recently, much of downtown’s development has centered farther from the bay around the financial district. Now, however, there are four projects planned within walking distance of the site that either Starboard or the Crystal Galleria consortium will develop.
In making its decision, CCDC will consider the experience of the builders, their financial capabilities, and the design of the projects and their relationship to the San Diego Trolley station, Kalland said. Both developers made their pitches to a CCDC subcommittee Wednesday morning.
Besides the difference in architectural design, there are two important distinctions between the two projects: the Starboard project is about twice as large and would cost half again as much as the Crystal Galleria proposal; and the Starboard project would include a 308-room hotel as well as office space.
Many Shops and Eateries
Both projects would include three stories of shops and restaurants, which would attract passengers getting off trolleys that could come through every 3 1/2 minutes during peak hours.
Gary H. London, a consultant who worked on the Crystal Galleria proposal, questioned whether the downtown market can absorb another hotel; he said the market for offices looks better than the market for hotels over the next 10 years.
However, Starboard President Brad Saunders said Wednesday he expects that the hotel would be quite successful because of its proximity to transportation and the bay.
Saunders also extolled the fact that Starboard’s proposal would incorporate about 20 county courtrooms and offices for court employees. San Diego County’s Superior Court judges have been considering decentralizing the courts because they have been unable to find space downtown.
The county, if it came to an agreement with Starboard, would take up about 25% of the office building.
Saunders said he is confident that a deal will be reached with the county, but even if a deal were delayed, Starboard would build the hotel immediately so the trolley line could be built through it.
