Training Complex Plans Hammered by Economy

The gloomy economy has put a damper on plans to build the $60-million, state-of-the-art athletic training complex on the western shore of Lower Otay Reservoir in Chula Vista, officials for the San Diego National Sports Training Foundation say.

The center was originally to be completed in time for the 1992 Olympics, but site improvements--sewers, streets, utilities--have not been finished. Foundation leaders have been forced to drastically scale back the first phase of construction.

And now, the nonprofit organization is negotiating for an unusual $3 million to $4 million “bridge loan” from the city of Chula Vista to keep the project going.

“Times are tough,” said Orrin W. Miller, the foundation’s project manager.

“Dealing with reality, we said, ‘Look, we’re not going to be able to raise the $60 million for phase one in the time we thought we could. Therefore, let’s build a core project that the Olympic Committee can open as a training center . . . and then build the rest over the next couple of years as funds become available to us.’ ”

Instead of completing all of the $60-million complex at once, the foundation hopes to finish a $25-million “core” project that will include a gymnasium, 50-meter pool, a cycling course, archery range, field hockey field, track-and-field complex, tennis courts and administrative space.

On hold are plans to build a visitors center, sports science and medicine building, dining facility and athlete dormitories, Miller said.

Meanwhile, another source of income to the foundation--the sale of specialized Olympic Training Center license plates--are lackluster, according to a Department of Motor Vehicle spokesman.

Foundation officials once touted the license plate sales as the best way to repay a controversial $15-million state loan approved by the Legislature in 1989. But while the majority of lawmakers went along with the plan, the DMV warned at the time that it would take up to 142 years to peddle enough plates to repay the principal and interest when the loan comes due in 2011.

So far, motorists have purchased only 4,572 sets--enough to clear $457,200, said DMV spokesman Bill Madison. “The sales are light,” he said.

Chula Vista Mayor Tim Nader said that in addition to the swing loan, the foundation wants the city to help promote sales of the specialized tags throughout the South Bay. He was surprised to hear that sales so far were lagging.

“That’s information that should have been supplied to the city,” Nader said.

Nevertheless, Nader said the city will probably go ahead with the swing loan to “get the project over the hump.”

“I think the Olympic training center would be a tremendous asset to the people of Chula Vista and I would like to see that go forward,” he said.

Community leaders have been advocating the training center as a boon to the area economy, a draw for tourists and a way to showcase athletes as a role model for San Diego youngsters.

As a vehicle to build the complex, some of the city’s most prominent civic and business leaders created the foundation in May, 1987, as a nonprofit organization to solicit tax-deductible contributions and guide construction.

Through 1991, the foundation has collected $10.2 million in contributions, including a $5-million installment on the state loan.

Since the 1991 report, foundation officials say the state has paid another $5 million and $2 million more is on its way, bringing the state’s total investment in the project to $12 million. The loan is supposed to be paid back, with interest, in the year 2011.

Other contributors include the Atlantic Richfield Co., which has given $5 million of its $15 million pledge; Union-Tribune owner Helen Copley, who has donated $600,000; Atlas Hotels’ Chairman Terry Brown, who has given $500,000, and Horton Plaza developer Ernest Hahn, who has contributed $166,667, public records show.

Fund-raising expenses last year were $900,000, about 35% of the foundation’s total outlay, according to the public filing.

A senior research associate for the National Charities Information Bureau in New York, a watchdog group that rates nonprofit groups making national appeals, said the foundation’s fund-raising percentage exceeds the 30% limit called for in the NCIB’s voluntary guidelines.

“That’s a tad on the high side,” said Frank Driscoll, the researcher. “We would want to know where it was going. If it were getting worse, we’d call them if we were rating this outfit.”

But a spokesman for the Better Business Bureau said its voluntary limits on fund-raising expenses are about 35%.