Properties, long in limbo, transferred back to the city

By Morgan M. Hurley | Editor

It has been four years since Gov. Brown, seeking relief for the budget crisis, dissolved the state’s redevelopment agencies as of Oct., 1, 2011, which led to San Diego’s being dissolved on Feb. 1, 2012.

Since then, hundreds of ongoing or planned projects around the city have been in a state of flux, and while the city’s establishment of Civic San Diego picked up most of the slack, a great many projects were still held in abeyance.

On Oct. 22, however, the city got some good news.

“Forty-two properties once owned by San Diego’s redevelopment agency are expected to remain in local control now that the California Department of Finance has approved the city’s long-range property management plan for them,” said a press release from the office of San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith.

Of those properties, 18 of them are for public use; parks, pedestrian walkways, streets, and even a future fire station. Two others, Horton Plaza Park and Plaza — currently under seemingly endless construction — will be transferred based on previous contracts as will the Lyceum Theatre, and 22 other properties are being transferred for future redevelopment. Those last 22 properties have one more hurdle to finalize the transfer.

“The City Council will need to approve the compensation agreement(s) for the future development sites,” said Paul Cooper, executive assistant to the city attorney. “City staff and the city attorney’s office are coordinating many details with respect to the compensation agreement(s), and any agreements will need to be negotiated between the City and other affected taxing entities, such as the County, the school districts, and special districts.”

The representative said the process is expected to take at least 6-12 months.

Had the state not acted, many of the properties — located in Centre City, Barrio Logan, Chollas View, Liberty Station, City Heights, North Park, Mount Hope, Linda Vista and Stockton — were at risk to be auctioned off.

Much of the thanks goes to those who worked on the property management plan, which was a collaboration between various departments within the city — city attorney, comptroller, street division, real estate assets, economic development and park and recreation — with Civic San Diego taking the lead.

“Our attorneys devoted more than 1,500 hours over three years to formulating the best strategy for managing these properties within the framework of the redevelopment dissolution laws, and to help protect the properties against state overreach,” Goldsmith stated in the release. “We can all be proud of their work on behalf of the City, and to the benefit of some of our oldest urban neighborhoods.”

Councilmember Todd Gloria was contacted via email to comment on news of the transfers.

“The city and neighborhoods have great visions for many of these properties, and I’m grateful the state’s decision will bring them one step closer to reality,” Gloria said. “The North Park mini-park site and the east block of East Village Green will add long-awaited open space amenities, and I’m even more excited that the city has retained the property for Fire Station 2 on the west side of Downtown.”

According to the City Attorney’s office, the following are some of the properties on the list, which are located Downtown:

Balboa Theater: This historic theater completed a $26.5 million restoration in 2008, and will continue use as a premier performing and cultural arts facility.

Chinese Historical Museum: This museum and cultural center located at 404 Third Ave., was constructed in 1927 and rehabilitated in 1995-1996. It includes a Chinese garden, gates and a pagoda that reflect Downtown’s Asian-Pacific thematic historic district.

East Block of East Village Green: This block (bounded by F, G, 14th and 15th streets) is to become half of a 4.1-acre grassy park with other amenities that will make it the largest park in eastern Downtown.

Fire Station No. 2: The property at 875 W. Cedar St. has plans to become a new three-story 16,000-square-feet fire-rescue facility serving waterfront properties along Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway.

St. Joseph’s Park: The block in the Cortez neighborhood is the future location of a full block grassy park with St. Joseph’s Cathedral as its iconic backdrop.

A complete list of all the properties can be found here: tinyurl.com/qdghtqq.

—Morgan M. Hurley is the editor of San Diego Downtown News. She can be reached at [email protected].