Last week’s Beacon contained a story about the proposed Nickelodeon Hotel to be built at the former Naval Training Center (now Liberty Station). Everyone on this Peninsula and in this city needs to look closely at this proposal to place a themed water park hotel based on cartoon characters on a prime piece of our waterfront property. If ever something would be a statement for this city’s lack of class, this would be it.
The McMillin Cos. holds the lease for this parcel of land. The parcel is just to the left after you drive over the boat channel bridge and is across from Spanish Landing. It is now a large “Park, Shuttle, and Fly” parking lot that serves the airport. The parcel faces the boat channel on one side and Harbor Drive on the other.
The new hotel will be an 80-foot-high meandering wall of hotel rooms, and in the center of the parcel will be a water park containing large figures of characters from the Sponge Bob cartoon that will be visible from the boat channel and from the bridge as traffic goes by.
The parcel of land is zoned for a 650-room hotel, so that is established. But, it doesn’t have to be this. Because so much of the land is being used for a theme park, the hotel building has to be 80 feet tall to get the desired number of rooms. If a more tasteful hotel were contemplated, it could be built on a much lower profile by using the planned water park area for building. The project could contain plenty of green areas and pedestrian-friendly paths and small open areas but be 30 or 40 feet tall instead. The traffic issues for a hotel would be very different than what can be expected for this little themed water park that will be a destination for people not staying at the hotel, in addition to the people who are staying there.
And finally, why are we considering devoting a prime piece of precious bayfront property to something so crass and commercial? This will be a hotel that will stand out like a sore thumb. It will encourage people to come there ” and stay there ” instead of going out to experience our great city. This should be a quality, low profile, tasteful creation that will provide a peaceful and relaxing place to stay to admire our bay view before and after sojourning out to enjoy San Diego. This hotel would be fine somewhere else where the surroundings are not the attraction and the hotel would be, but to put it here would be our statement to the world that we have no sense of class at all. And I just don’t believe that.