A sprawling Nickelodeon resort hotel proposed for Liberty Station may well live up to its promise to bring family fun to the area. But as the developer, Miller Global Properties, Inc., works with residents to forge plans for the facility, neighbors and community planners are trying to make sure the resort won’t overstep its bounds.
Miller plans to build the quixotically shaped, 650-room resort hotel, complete with a water park, at Liberty Station on the east side of the boat channel off North Harbor Drive. Part of the plans call for a 150-foot-long public esplanade along the shore on the west side of the site.
Miller vice president George Chelwick presented site plans to the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s Project Review Committee on Aug. 8. The plans show meandering walkways lined with lush trees and access to eateries, retail outlets and public park space.
“All the rooms are geared toward family,” Chelwick said. “All of the entertainment, which is a principal part of Nickelodeon, is incorporated into this process, as is the water play area.”
Managed by Marriott International, the themed resort would boast group accommodations and 30,000 square feet of meeting space and venues for “Nick After Dark” events and themed parties, according to Marriott International’s website.
Although the hotel may hold the potential for an abundance of fun for children, some local residents want to make sure the project follows the NTC Precise Plan and that it maintains the integrity of the public park space that includes the esplanade, said Point Loma resident Julie Cramer.
Cramer said that when people come to Liberty Station’s NTC Promenade, they should feel they’re coming to public property, not Nickelodeon property.
“With this entire project, the park is the biggest public asset,” said Kramer. “And so to have anything that looks like it’s taking away from public use is taking way from the original intent.”
The Precise Plan calls for a walkway similar to the path on the western shore of the channel in NTC Park.
Matching one side to the other may be tough, however, because of a steam pipe that runs the length of the site. According to Chelwick, the Navy owns the pipe. He said Miller would have to work with the Navy to either underground the pipe or partly bury it until the Navy figures out what to do with it.
As Miller and the community work to redevelop the former Navy land immediately surrounding the site, they may have to play a game of give-and-take.
Miller applied for a street vacation of Halsey Road, which currently runs through the property but has been closed for some time.
Chelwick said the vacated land would be used for the front of the project but would set aside an area for about 16 parking spaces, in accordance with Coastal Commission requirements.
According to the city’s municipal code, a planning board or governmental entity must determine a “public benefit” for the vacation of a public right-of-way.
“The public benefit wouldn’t be to give Nickelodeon places to park,” said PCPB board member Kathryn Rhodes.
Although 16 parking spaces are more than what the closed-off road can provide now, it pales in comparison with the 840 underground parking spaces planned for employees and guests. Rhodes suggested splitting the parcel ” half for hotel use and half for more public parking.
Concerns expressed by Cramer and Rhodes mirror many of those voiced during the PCPB’s Project Review Committee meeting, ranging from city revenue derived from the hotel to the project’s overall environmental impact.
The project is still going through the permit process, and, if approved, construction may start in 2008, Chelwick said.
Representatives from Miller are slated to present at the next Peninsula planning board meeting Aug. 16, according to the planning board’s agenda.
If built, the resort hotel will be owned by Miller Global Properties through an agreement with the McMillin Companies and would be managed by Marriott International, according to McMillin representative Greg Block.
The Nickelodeon hotel is one of three hotels planned for the former Naval Training Center. They include a 150-room Hilton Homewood suites planned for a Sept. 15 opening and a 200-room Courtyard by Marriott opening in February, Block said. The two buildings are under construction. Together, the hotels are estimated to bring in about $600 million in tax revenue annually for the city, Block said.