City Council OKs Luxury Downtown Condo Tower

In their ninth appearance before the San Diego City Council, a pair of developers won approval Tuesday to build a luxury condominium tower at the southwest corner of State Street and Broadway.

The Koll Co. and Davidson Communities Inc. earned the right to build the disputed 36-story, $91-million complex when Councilman Wes Pratt changed his position and provided the fifth vote necessary to open negotiations with the Centre City Development Corp., which oversees the land for the city of San Diego.

In its last attempt to decide between the Huntington and a rental apartment complex, the council deadlocked 4 to 4, with Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer abstaining because of a possible conflict of interest.

Tuesday, the project actually received six votes, with Pratt and council members Ron Roberts, Gloria McColl, Ed Struiksma, Bruce Henderson and Judy McCarty voting in favor. Councilman Bob Filner, who has bitterly criticized the building as too tall and bulky for the area, opposed the decision.

But Roberts, who called the Huntington “a very, very handsome and attractive building,” said “I think it works very, very well with the surrounding community.”

Pratt said he switched sides because the 470-foot Huntington, where condominiums will sell for $300,000 to $1 million, will bring the city more tax revenue than the rental facility. He also said he wanted to end months of council discussion on the project.

The developers have agreed to grant the city $100,000 toward the creation of a child-care facility in the area and $50,000 for legal fees if owners of the adjacent Emerald Shapery building sue the city for blocking views of the bay from that building.

With Tuesday’s vote, the developers and CCDC have 120 days to reach agreement on specifics of the construction proposal before the project goes back to the council for final approval. With two new council members taking office Dec. 4, Filner raised the possibility of overturning Tuesday’s decision.

But CCDC Executive Director Pam Hamilton said such a move might be challenged on the grounds that the city had negotiated with the developers in bad faith.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor had backed the Huntington’s competitor, known simply as 900 State Street, a 30-story, $44-million high-rent apartment building proposed by A. J. Lirot of El Dorado Asset Management and his partner, Trammell Crow Co. McCarty, who Tuesday voted for the Huntington project, had favored 900 State Street in an earlier vote.

In early November, O’Connor was quoted as saying that, if the deadlock continued, the city should “go back to Square One.”

CCDC endorsed the Huntington project in earlier discussions.