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From a distance, the construction scene on the east side of Pacific Highway between Grape and Cedar could be from a classic Disney black-and-white cartoon, with helmeted workers and giant machines flying in every direction. But the madcap activity forms a clear pattern to the builders of the first new north waterfront project in years. When the dust settles, a Residence Inn by Marriott will stand.
In the same way, plans for new Downtown hotels are expected to revive what two decades ago was a shabby, sinister area. Already, strollers stop to hear music pouring from trendy bars and restaurants south of Broadway. Conventioneers, tourists and visiting business people mingle with locals, many of them new Downtown residents.
But Downtown hotel rooms remain in short supply. "There's just no room at the inn," as Manchester Resorts Senior Vice President Peter Litrenta wryly puts it.
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Urban pleasures aren’t all that’s creating a need for hotels. Demand by business travelers is high and expected to grow as commerce scrambles to take advantage of what the Centre City Development Corp. calls America's best-wired Down-town, not to mention a doubling of the San Diego Convention Center's size.
To meet all those needs, nearly a score of hotels — with 7,000 rooms and more than $600 million in project costs — are in the works for Downtown San Diego and Harbor Island. Donna Alm, vice president for marketing and development at CCDC, confidently predicts that "99 percent of these will go forward."
The Residence Inn by Marriott on Pacific Highway already is moving rapidly ahead. Developer Mike Galasso says the hotel aims at business travelers in San Diego for three to five nights. The $14.5 million project will be wired for data transmission. Thirty of the 120 units in the four-story building will have two bedrooms, and a pool and spa are part of the plans.
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Rooms will start at around $120 per night, affordable for the families expected on weekends.
Galasso, whose firm of Barone, Galasso & Associates has received architectural awards for Downtown projects, says the design will complement that of the County Administration Center, which is across the street. CCDC will provide wider sidewalks, palm trees and street lamps compatible with the architecture as part of long-range plans to improve the North Embarcadero area.
Another project aimed at corporate travelers and tourists is a Courtyard by Marriott in the San Diego Trust — Savings Bank building on the northwest corner of Sixth Avenue and Broadway. Renovation of the 70-year-old, 13-story building recently began.
When the $27 million project is opened next October, it will contain 247 rooms, among them 17 suites. Rates will be around $120. The one-time bank lobby will become the hotel lobby. A basement vault will become a meeting room.
The 180,000-square-foot building was designed by William Templeton Johnson, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects who designed other San Diego landmarks. Denver-based AM Rock Creek Ltd., the owner, which is an affiliate of Amstar Group Ltd., and Sage Hospitality Resources LLC, the developer, have committed to preservation of the ornate building.
Another project aimed at extended-stay business travelers is known as City Suites. Sandor Shapery designed the hotel on property he owns at State and B, beside Columbia Square and across the street from the cluster of towers formerly called Emerald Shapery Center, which he also designed. The hotel was planned in 1991. Then the economy turned sour, Shapery says.
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Today Shapery is negotiating a lease agreement with a developer for a 19-story, 180,000-square-foot building that will have between 187 and 225 rooms. "I enjoy designing projects myself, and if someone else wants to build them, fine," Shapery says. The hotel will reflect Columbia Square architecture, with its copper mansard roof, brick, stained glass and wrought iron. Shapery expects the $25 million project to be completed within 12 months.
But these hotels for business travelers represent only a small percentage of those planned. The bulk are for convention delegates and tourists.
For example, the second tower of the Hyatt Regency between Seaport Village and the Convention Center will add 800 rooms in 32 stories to the 875 in the present 40-story hotel. The project lacks only approval from the state Coastal Commission, which is expected this month.
Litrenta says construction of the $130 million project will begin in the late summer or early fall of 1999 and will be completed within 26 months.
A building between the two towers will have a rooftop swimming pool and garden along with 30,000 square feet of ballroom space and 34,000 square feet of exhibit space. Room rates will be equivalent to those now charged in the Hyatt Regency. An underground parking area for 1,400 vehicles will be constructed with an entrance at Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway.
"We’ve had to turn away hundreds of thousands of room-nights over the past few years," Litrenta says.
The next-door San Diego Marriott and Marina also has
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been turning away guests. Marriott proposed a 600-room expansion, but that project was not included in the port district master land-use plan amendment that cleared the way for the Hyatt.
Another huge waterfront project awaiting the port's approval, perhaps early next year, is Campbell Shipyards, south of the planned Convention Center expansion. Kip Howard, the developer, says that 2,200 convention rooms are needed immediately.
The proposed 36-story four-star hotel would have 1,000 rooms, but already "we’re looking at the possibility of expanding the number of rooms." A 300-slip marina and restaurants are part of the plan by Howard's Allegis Development Services for the $300 million project on 11 acres of land and 12 acres of water.
"We want pedestrians to be able to reach the waterfront," Howard says. "Compared to other hotels in the area, you'll see greatly improved access to the water."
Howard foresees a day when cruise ships will be docking at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal, Camp-bell Shipyards' southern neighbor, and when bay ferries, water taxis and excursion boats will be stationed beside his hotel.
A variety of smaller hotels are planned. One will be in the former Station B power plant on the southwest corner of Broadway and Kettner. Arizona developer James Monaghan plans a 26-story tower while retaining the exterior of the historic building. The tower will contain 420 rooms, and 30 suites will
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be along the building's Broadway facade. Indoor parking for 272 vehicles is included. The old turbine room, with a 70-foot ceiling, will become the main lobby. Construction on the $85 million project is expected next year.
Within a month, construction will begin on a hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter. It will be a Hilton Garden Inn, part of a larger project called Bridgeworks, a joint venture by international developer Malkin Properties, the New York-based billion-dollar real estate fund, Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Mirastar Hotels, the largest U.S. operator of Hilton hotels.
Jeremy Cohen, Malkin vice president, says the 253-room, 12-story hotel is intended to be a charming inn in a garden setting. Six restaurants, large terraces, retail stores, underground parking for 137 vehicles, and two levels of office space are included in the $40 million project at the southern end of the Gaslamp Quarter, between Fourth and Fifth avenues and K and L streets. The design, by Carrier-Johnson, recalls 19th century waterfront buildings.
Just north in the Gaslamp Quarter on the Goodwill Block bounded by Fourth and Fifth avenues and Island and J
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streets, will be developed by Champion Development Group of Los Angeles. Part of the plan is a four-star boutique hotel with 350 guest rooms which reflects the Gaslamp's architecture. About 450 parking spaces will be included below and above ground level, and 250 will be for public use. The $60 million project will include restaurants and retail shops on the lower two floors of the nine-story building, with the hotel on the remaining floors. The project is expected to come before the CCDC board within a month, with a 15-month construction period to begin next year.
Other hotels are in various stages of planning. Details of a 159-room Hampton Inn off Pacific Highway at Beech are being worked out. A Harbour Lights Resort timeshare project with 59 rooms is being considered for the Gaslamp Quarter. Three hotels with 2,500 rooms at several Downtown sites are part of negotiations for a Downtown ballpark.
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An environmental impact report for a 392-room Ritz Carlton on the east side of Harbor Island was certified eight years ago and is still valid. No land use amendment is necessary because the property, now used for airport employee parking, is designated for hotels, says Diana Lucero, assistant director of public relations for the San Diego Unified Port District.
On the west side of Harbor Island, a hotel project called Marina Cortez, south of the Sheraton San Diego, is being considered, but an EIR and port amendment would be necessary. Also, a hotel is part of discussions about conversion of Camp Nimitz at the Naval Training Center.
If 90 percent of these hotels do come on line in the next few years, as Alm predicts, then Litrenta will have to revise his comment: There will be plenty of room at the inn.
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