Midway Rising, the team granted exclusive negotiating rights by the City to re-imagine what the 48-acre former Sports Arena site can be, has been doing community outreach on the game-changing project to reshape the Midway District.
“This has been a project that has been underway for so many years,” noted Venus Molina, chief of staff for Councilmember Dr. Jennifer Campbell representing District 2. In introducing Midway Rising at a Feb. 8 town hall on the project, Molina said: “The Midway community really wanted it and really needs this renaissance. They’re going to have 2,000 units of affordable housing. So we’re really looking forward to that, and to the new sports arena and entertainment center that we’re going to have. We’re really hoping you (the public) will provide a lot of input.”
“The whole idea of this is for you to ask questions and engage us,” said Shelby Jordan II, project director for Legends, a Midway Rising partner involved in developing the sports arena element of the long-term project. “Part of the exercise tonight is to collect your questions so we can figure out ways to stay in contact so you can learn more about the project as it progresses. This is the first of many gatherings like this. We’ll do this quarterly.”
Midway Rising’s brief overview of the project on Feb. 8 was followed by a workshop with stations where the public could ask questions of technical experts engaged in the area’s redevelopment.
Jim Andersen, chief development officer for Chelsea Investment Corp., another partner in Midway Rising, spoke at the Feb. 8 town hall at EF International Language Campuses, and again at Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group on Feb. 15. Andersen addressed the history and fundamentals of the mixed-use entertainment district project at Midway Planning Group’s monthly Zoom meeting on Feb. 15, stressing that Midway Rising has not yet officially chosen by the City as the arena’s redeveloper.
“This project will have 2,000 affordable units and provide 8,500 jobs, many of them in construction, as well as having 20 acres of parks accessible to the public along with providing $7 billion in economic benefits to the region,” Andersen said. He added, “The new sports arena will have a seating capacity about the same as what it has currently: 16,000 seats.”
Anderson noted the housing element of the revamped sports arena site will have a total of 4,250 dwellings. Of those, he said 2,000 will be affordable units for those qualifying who make 30% to 80% of median County income. He added there will also be housing provided for families and veterans, as well as permanent supportive housing, to serve the unsheltered.
Andersen noted unsheltered housing will not be in temporary tents, but rather will be permanent supportive housing overseen by St. Vincent de Paul Village/Father Joe’s Villages, longtime homeless service providers Downtown.
Added Andersen: “To energize the project, we want to create a really friendly, gathering environment. This will also be the most climate-friendly project San Diego has ever seen built with sustainable, renewable materials as much as possible. The project is also being built as an intermodal transit hub.”
Midway planning members expressed concerns about the redevelopment project. “We’ve got multiple facilities already in Midway, hotels being used and tent shelters, and 200 more units are now going to bring homeless into Midway,” pointed out Cathy Kenton, immediate past chair of the planning group. “I am concerned about the number of units for the homeless when we are so heavily impacted already.”
“Those are some weighty issues,” replied Andersen.
“You’re trying to put this beautiful new project with open grassy areas in the middle of Midway,” noted community planner Tod Howarth asking, “How are you going to keep the homeless from coming in there?”
“Our team is very aware of the challenges of the site,” answered Andersen.
“Overall, what I believe the project needs is more park space,” said Andrea Schlageter, Ocean Beach Planning board chair. “If any new development in Midway doesn’t provide more than adequate park space – there will not be the neighborhood renaissance that residents are hoping for.”
Adding she participated in this year’s Point in Time Count of homeless, Schlageter noted: “It seems that the unhoused are being kept in certain pockets of the peninsula, overburdening some neighborhoods. It’s sad that this concentration has occurred and will only lead to worse outcomes for all involved.”
Point Loman Robert Tripp Jackson pointed out, “A lot of the homeless don’t want services because of requirements that have to be followed. In addition, they pull in a staggering amount of money from handouts by good-hearted citizens. I interviewed a group of homeless when I was chair of the Point Loma Association who primarily stayed at the corner of Nimitz and Rosecrans. That day, collectively, they received $1,500 in handouts.”
“We need to find some way to make these pieces all fit together,” said Dike Anyiwo, current Midway planning chair about dealing with the homeless and planning a new sports arena. “We as a planning group need to be solutions-oriented and proactive. We don’t want to keep doing the same things and expect that, by magic, something will change. We want to be more creative, more robust, in doing things than can uplift this community.”
“We want to be partners with the community,” concluded Andersen. “We always welcome public feedback.”
