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The new measure accommodates them. Drafted with Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s failed one in mind, it tweaked the definition of the Convention Center itself to extend up to the railroad tracks along Harbor Drive rather than south of Harbor Drive. This means workers could conceivably build an expansion up to or even across Harbor Drive, replacing the current outdoor driveway and indoor lobby space with exhibit halls. Convention space could replace or transform Harbor Drive between Fifth Avenue and Park Boulevard
sdconventionctr #nofilterneeded We have proudly debuted our latest enhancement to an already iconic exhibit space: our #SailsPavilionLiggts are up and running! These are the same LED fixtures used to light the Empire State Building! You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
As backers of an expanded convention center push forward with a November initiative to finance the project, behind-the-scenes efforts are ramping up to overcome one of the development’s key challenges: control of the waterfront site. At issue is a $300 million hotel project planned for the same site as the convention center expansion, which city tourism leaders and Mayor Kevin Faulconer have been pushing for years. The expansion, though, has been on a collision course with the Fifth Avenue Landing hotel project, whose developers control the five-acre state tidelands site via a lease that is not due to expire until 2024. Last year the Fifth Avenue Landing leasehold filed suit against the city and Convention Center Corp., claiming that they were interfering with its contractual right to move forward with its project, which would be built on the back side of the center.Twice in the last month, though, scheduled court hearings on the city’s motion to dismiss the suit have been continued at the parties’ request. The most recent continuance was Wednesday. In addition, San Diego port commissioners, who oversee the state tidelands properties, have had three closed-door sessions in the last month to discuss “price and terms” of the bayfront parcels under lease to Fifth Avenue Landing. The negotiating parties, according to the closed-session agendas, include Art Engel and Ray Carpenter, longtime port tenants who hold the Fifth Avenue Landing lease. Meanwhile, consideration of the hotel project, which was expected to go before port commissioners next month, will not be on the April agenda. Late last year, the environmental analysis for the project was completed, clearing the way for consideration by the port and eventually the California Coastal Commission. The confluence of recent events suggests that talks are intensifying to reach a financial settlement with Fifth Avenue Landing for returning control of the site to the convention center."This property is vital to the completion of the convention center expansion project and continued growth of San Diego's tourism economy,” Matt Awbrey, Faulconer’s deputy chief of staff, said Thursday. “Discussions are being had by all relevant parties under litigation through mediation. We will not comment further on pending litigation at this time." Officials with the port and Convention Center Corp. also declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations. Gil Cabrera, who chairs the convention center board, noted that the corporation remains interested in regaining control of the expansion site, regardless of whether the center gets enlarged. The top priority, though, remains the expansion, he stressed. “Our clients often utilize the space for various things, for storage, event space, they’ll build tents back there,” Cabrera said. “Each time, Fifth Avenue Landing has to agree to do it and sometimes they may or may not want to do that. I'm always hopeful that we can come to a resolution on all these issues, and the recent activity makes me hopeful.” Should there be a financial settlement, it is unclear where the funds would come from.The lease held by Carpenter and Engel requires that they submit plans for a hotel of at least 400 rooms comparable in quality to other bayfront properties. In addition to an 830-room, four-star hotel rising 44 stories, Fifth Avenue Landing’s proposal calls for two acres of public plazas, open-air cafes along the bayfront promenade, an expansive rooftop garden plaza and a second hotel catering to budget-minded guests. Until almost three years ago, the Convention Center Corp. had control over the Fifth Avenue Landing site but opted to back out of a deal it struck in 2010 to acquire the leasehold at a cost of $13.5 million as part of its plans to enlarge the convention center. But the expansion project fell apart after an appellate court ruled in 2014 that the plan to finance it with a hotelier-approved room tax hike was unconstitutional.A coalition of business leaders, hoteliers, labor unions and homeless advocates are backing a November ballot initiative that would hike the city’s hotel room tax to help pay for an expanded center costing as much as $850 million, as well as boost funding for the homeless and road repairs. The campaign group, Yes! for a Better San Diego, is currently circulating petitions in hopes of qualifying the measure for the November ballot. In its lawsuit against the city, Fifth Avenue Landing asserts that continued efforts to push a convention center expansion are a "direct breach" of a lease agreement it has governing the project site. In a legal brief supporting its motion to dismiss the suit, the Convention Center Corp. claims that the Fifth Avenue Landing case “relies on the faulty premise that (the corporation and city) were contractually obligated to forever refrain from seeking to expand the Convention Center onto the public tidelands property or from even speaking about it.” No contract, says the corporation, contains any such restriction on efforts to seek an expansion.
You’ll be noticing more of these charging stations throughout @SDConventionCtr lobbies. #SDCC
One area that I have never seen addressed in any of the expansion plans is the dire lack of elevators to get upstairs. Anyone who has used a wheelchair, scooter, or stroller can attest to this. Long lines are standard for people trying to get around. And number of people needing elevators is only going to go up. And this isn't including the vendors who are constantly moving up and down to keep the cookies and pretzels in stock. You would think there are separate service elevators but they must be too far away. Last year, there was a guy with a huge cart of cookies and things who demanded to cut ahead of the wheelchairs and strollers.
Our President & CEO Rip Rippetoe talked all things "convention center" on BISTalk Radio, including the economic "ripple effect" of the #meetings & #convention industry in the City of San Diego & how it benefits the region. We invite you to take a read & a listen!
We launched our newest attendee amenity at #ATS2018: Digital Signage showing @SanDiegoAirport real-time flight info. Get live departure/arrival details and gate numbers. Located in Lobby E. Another way we're improving the @SDConventionCtr experience! @atscommunity @IAVMWHQ
A deal obligating the city and the Port of San Diego to pay up to $33.2 million to regain control of a bayfront site needed to expand the city’s convention center will be formally considered by both entities next week.Details of the payout, part of a complicated deal negotiated over a period of eight months, are contained in documents prepared in advance of a planned Tuesday hearing before the City Council. That same day, San Diego Port Commissioners will also be asked to approve the settlement — a three-way deal between the city; the port, which oversees the leased tidelands site; and longtime port tenants Ray Carpenter and Art Engel, who have been working on plans for a $300 million hotel project on the five-acre waterfront parcel that they currently control. The full payout, including an upfront payment of $5 million by the port, is still dependent on the outcome of a citizens’ initiative planned for the November ballot that would finance an expansion of up to $850 million with revenues generated by an increase in the city’s hotel room tax.A coalition of business leaders, hoteliers, labor unions and homeless advocates are expecting to turn in by the middle of this month more than 100,000 signatures for the measure, which calls for raising the city's effective hotel room tax of 12.5 percent to as much as 15.75 percent. The revenues from that tax hike would cover not only the expansion, which would enlarge the center by 400,000 square feet of rentable space, but also help underwrite the cost of services and housing for the homeless, as well as pay for road repairs. Some of those tax revenues would also cover most of the proposed $33.2 million payout to Fifth Avenue Landing, the leasehold controlled by Carpenter and Engel. As part of the proposed deal, the current term of the lease, due to expire in 2024, would be extended 18 years, and control would be turned over to the city.
San Diego – A three-party agreement has been reached for the City of San Diego to secure long-term control of the land needed to expand and modernize the San Diego Convention Center using voter-approved funding. With control of this site, the City has the opportunity to realize its long-standing goal to grow the regional economy by attracting more tourism activity with a modern convention facility.KEY POINTS OF THE AGREEMENTThe settlement agreement between the City of San Diego, Port of San Diego and Fifth Avenue Landing LLC (FAL) generally calls for two scenarios to proceed contingent upon the passage of the citizens’ initiative on the November 2018 ballot.If the citizens’ initiative passes:Port will purchase the existing leasehold from FAL for approximately $33 million (Ahead of the November 2018 election, the Port will make an initial non-refundable payment of approximately $5 million toward that amount)The City will purchase a new leasehold from the Port with an 18-year extension through 2042 for a price of $28 million, funded with revenue from the citizens’ initiativeThese transactions will be made in three concurrent installments over the course of 2019If the citizens’ initiative does not pass:The City reimburses the Port for the approximately $5 million down payment to FAL, paid for by money set aside in the City’s public liability fund for resolving litigationFAL can seek Port approval of a hotel project at the site