Solar Turbines’ $300-Million Harbor Project Eclipsed; Kearny Mesa Plan Rises
After experiencing a rain of criticism from local officials, Solar Turbines has officially abandoned plans to redevelop its 25-acre Harbor Drive manufacturing site into a $300-million project that would have included office buildings, shops, a hotel and restaurants.
Instead, Solar will soon approach its landlord, the San Diego Unified Port District, with a new plan that would involve a gradual transfer of its industrial operations to Kearny Mesa, company president Glen Barton said Friday. Solar will retain its corporate offices on the west end of the choice, triangular bay-front property that it has occupied since 1927, but will gradually turn over unused Harbor Drive property to the Port District, Barton said after a talk before the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Solar will also ask the port for a five-year extension of its lease, which runs out in 1993, Barton said.
Storm of Protest
In a surprise move last March, Solar presented to the Port District a plan for intense commercial development of the property that provoked a storm of protest from San Diego City Council members who complained that they were inadequately informed of the scope of the plan. The spectacular proposal, which also included a marina and trade center, would have had an unfavorable effect on neighboring downtown redevelopment, council members complained.
City Councilman Ron Roberts said Solar’s handling of the proposal was an attempt by the subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. to obtain exclusive development rights to the public property without competitive bidding.
After an unusual appearance by Roberts before the Port District to request that it delay consideration of the plan, the commissioners voted to defer action until the city reviews it. Port operations manager Don Hillman said Friday that Solar has yet to return with a revised plan.
In retrospect, Barton said Friday, the proposal was “premature.”
“It looked like a win-win to us, but the city fathers did not view it that way,” Barton said Friday. “We never got any real support for it.”
Rather than spend several years battling for city approval, Barton said Solar decided to turn to more important matters, namely Solar’s bread-and-butter business: the manufacturing of turbine engines used mainly in oil field production and transmission.
Solar’s plan now is to develop its 43-acre property in Kearny Mesa to accommodate all its manufacturing. The company will add at least 200,000 square feet to its 270,000-square-foot facility in Kearny Mesa, part of a $125-million upgrading and modernization of its facilities, Barton said after the chamber gathering.
Over time, perhaps as long as seven years, Solar’s 450,000-square-foot Harbor Drive plant will be closed, he said. A tract leased by Solar north on Laurel Street from its main facility and now used for parking will eventually be turned over to the port to help “mitigate the traffic problem” at adjacent Lindbergh Field, Barton said.
After some difficult years caused by sagging oil prices, Solar’s business is on the upswing, Barton said. The company expects the difference between Solar’s loss in 1987 and projected 1988 profit to be $50 million.
Improved demand for Solar’s turbine engines has prompted the company to hire 600 more employees this year, bringing payroll up to 3,400, of whom 2,800 work in San Diego. However, that is still under the December, 1984, peak of 3,866 employees.
