The UTC shopping center has included a transit center serving University City and greater San Diego for more than 20 years. University City has grown tremendously in this time as a major employment center for high-tech, biotech, education and health care in San Diego. The transit center has provided an alternative means of transportation for area workers who choose not to drive their cars to work.
Westfield is planning a $900 million revitalization of the mall, which includes a doubling of the transit center’s bus capacity, accommodations for the local Superloop shuttle and the future trolley extension or bus rapid-transit. This new state-of-the-art transit center with greater capacity and a better design can significantly advance transit in University City. That’s why both the Metropolitan Transit System and SANDAG (the two local transportation planning agencies) support it.
With gasoline headed to $5 a gallon, transit ridership on the rise and transit budgets declining, the need for a 21st century transit center in University City ” the second-largest urban core in the region ” is even more critical.
There is no better place for this major transit hub than UTC, at the heart of University City in the area identified in the Community Plan as the Urban Node. By providing expanded capacity here for buses and shuttles, plus right-of-way and connectivity for future transit, Westfield will build a critical piece of infrastructure for both University City and the San Diego region.
Recently, a few questions have been raised about the financing of the transit center. Here are the facts.
Westfield is contributing land valued at $8 million at no cost to the city. Further, we are offering to pay for the entire construction of the transit center, valued at $14 million, up front and build the facility concurrently with the first phase of the mall’s revitalization.
While some shoppers will take the bus to UTC, most people using the new transit center will be commuters working in the area and people who live nearby. Since the new transit center is a community benefit, taking cars off local streets by making transit a more viable option, Westfield has requested partial reimbursement from the University City Facilities Benefit Assessment (FBA) account. The FBA is a pool of developer fees collected by the city, intended to pay for necessary infrastructure improvements. Westfield is requesting reimbursement for half of the construction costs (but none of the land).
This reimbursement would amount to $7 million, or roughly 20 percent of Westfield’s entire FBA contribution for the New UTC of approximately $35 million. The remaining $28 million paid by Westfield would fund other improvements in the community, such as a new fire station, ball fields at University High School and interchange improvements at Interstates 5 and 805.
Further, Westfield is paying more than $20 million for additional public infrastructure improvements, including local roadway improvements, wider and more pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, plus freeway, water and sewer improvements. Westfield’s total investment in infrastructure from the New UTC project will exceed $60 million.
The New UTC will generate significantly more sales tax revenue for the city’s general fund, and it will generate increased TransNet revenue, which pays for regional transportation improvements. SANDAG will collect about $301 million in TransNet revenues from UTC over the next 40 years.
It is worth noting that most traffic in University City occurs during rush hour. However, peak shopping times at the mall occur during lunch hour and on weekends, meaning that the UTC mall has little direct impact on local traffic circulation during the worst traffic periods. But the transportation improvements made by UTC will benefit the public all times of the day.
Efficiency will also be enhanced by relocating the transit center on the Genesee Avenue frontage from its current location, saving more than 26 miles every day of bus travel distance.
This means quicker, more efficient bus service, cost savings for MTS, reduced fuel consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The transit center plan is the result of Westfield working many years with MTS, SANDAG and the City of San Diego. This transit center will become a model for multi-modal transit, the kind that is needed to take San Diego’s mobility and public transportation into the 21st century.
” Jonathan Bradhurst is a senior vice president for Westfield, which is responsible for the revitalization of the UTC shopping center.