Papa Doug Manchester

Downtown San Diego needs a dynamic front porch, one that is a lively and wonderful place to recreate, shop and dine. At the same time the U.S. Navy deserves a headquarters building of the quality befitting its extraordinary place in our community and mission in the world. My company is proud to have been chosen by the federal government to move forward on an agreement originally approved in 1992 by the Secretary of the Navy and the city of San Diego.

When completed, Manchester Pacific Gateway, the development the Navy chose for its property, will be the largest project to date in the history of the city of San Diego. With close to 3 million square feet of true mixed-use office, hotel and retail uses, it will cover about 14 acres and include subsurface parking for nearly 3,000 cars.

Pacific Gateway will replace the Broadway Complex, an aging, fenced Navy property at the foot of Broadway that is very familiar to me.

I grew up in Coronado as the son of a factory worker who commuted down the Silver Strand to the old Rohr Aircraft in Chula Vista. When I was selling newspapers at the old Coronado Ferry Landing, I would sometimes take the ferry across the bay and walk up Pacific Highway to where the Pacific Coast League Padres would play. That walk took me right past these very same Navy buildings that have been here the last 55 years.

Those buildings are blighting the entire western part of Downtown. It is a travesty that the Navy has had headquarters in such inferior buildings for all of these years. We will be proud to build a new, state-of-the-art naval command facility.

With open space around it instead of thousands of feet of chain link fence, this new Navy facility will be conducive to serving the public good. It will serve as part of the more than five acres of open space to be provided in a park-like setting that includes a pedestrian mall filled with shops, restaurants, other public venues and entertainment.

Manchester Pacific Gateway will be built in two phases. The first phase, the center four blocks, will provide the new office building for the Navy. That should take 30 months to complete after we break ground. After that we will move on to the next phase.

Financing is always an issue on projects of this size and scope, and today is no different. We have always prevailed in this particular challenge and we intend to prevail with this one too. We anticipate bringing in more than one partner on this project. We may bring in one for a portion of the office complex and then others for the hotel portions.

Located immediately across Harbor Drive from Manchester Pacific Gateway is the USS Midway Museum that I, as one of the first plank holders, was instrumental in bringing to San Diego. It is very exciting how the Midway has revitalized that portion of Downtown and I look forward to how it will work with Pacific Gateway.

This project has been delayed by a small number of people who have filed environmentally based legal actions to stop it from being built. Those opponents fail to realize this will be a great economic generator for the city of San Diego and bring our Downtown front porch to completion.

Fortunately, we anticipate the legal challenges will be resolved within the next 14 months, allowing us to break ground late next year.

Unfortunately, the situation is not a new one for us.

The Manchester Grand Hyatt was delayed by environmental lawsuits for about four years. With Pacific Gateway we are experiencing the same kind of delays without regard to the public good. But that is what America is all about. Everyone should have their say.

Hopefully at the end of the day we will prevail and build a project that will be suitable for all San Diegans and one they can be proud of.

Papa Doug Manchester is founder and chairman of Manchester Financial Group.