3 Finalists Picked for Top City Redevelopment Post
The names of three potential successors to the top administrative post of the city’s downtown redevelopment agency were announced Saturday after a closed session of the board of the Centre City Development Corp.
The three candidates for the position of executive vice president of the CCDC are Gary Stout, president of a redevelopment consulting firm in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area; Frank Taylor, assistant city manager of San Jose and executive director of that city’s redevelopment agency, and Michael Francis, deputy administrator of the Los Angeles community redevelopment agency, CCDC spokeswoman Kathy Kalland said.
The vice president’s seat was vacated in February when Gerald M. Trimble, who served as head of the redevelopment agency for 10 1/2 years, left to become president and chief executive officer of the University of Southern California’s new Real Estate Development Corp.
The city hired an executive search firm to find a candidate for the position, which will pay as much as $105,000 a year. The list of candidates was recently whittled down to eight semifinalists, who were interviewed over the past few weeks by members the subcommittee formed to find Trimble’s replacement, Kalland said. Pam Hamilton, the assistant vice president of the board and acting vice president in Trimble’s absence, was among the semifinalists, Kalland said.
The three finalists were interviewed by the full board Saturday and will have the opportunity to meet with the mayor and the City Council members over the next few days, Kalland said.
John Davies, CCDC chairman of the board, said he hopes the hiring subcommittee will bring a recommendation for Trimble’s replacement before the board at its May 20 meeting. Davies said he would like to see the position filled by mid-June.
At $105,000 a year, Trimble was the city’s highest-paid public official at the time he announced his resignation last November. The first and only head of the city’s redevelopment agency, he was considered one of the prime forces behind the dramatic revival of downtown San Diego.
He was praised by colleagues for his role as the city’s chief mover and shaker behind the construction of Horton Plaza, perhaps his most memorable achievement. The $140-million shopping center has since served as the centerpiece of the city’s downtown renewal efforts.
‘Downtown Is Booming’
Upon announcing his resignation, Trimble told the CCDC board, “We’ve accomplished a great deal. Downtown is booming . . . and people said it couldn’t happen.”
Trimble also said his decision to leave the redevelopment agency was difficult but he wished to take advantage of other opportunities.
Before coming to San Diego in 1977, Trimble was executive director of Pasadena’s redevelopment agency. In his new job as head of USC’s Real Estate Development Corp., he will oversee the development of the university’s property around its Park and Health Sciences campuses.
Trimble, a graduate of USC, was among the first people hired to run the for-profit development corporation, which was created last October by the university’s trustees.
