SAN DIEGO, Tuesday, August 22, 2006 – The Board of Directors of the Downtown San Diego Partnership announced their support for Manchester Financial Group’s Pacific Gateway project, provided the development is in keeping with certain urban design principles.  These principles, which were authored by the Partnership’s Urban Design and Planning Committee and approved by the Partnership’s full Board, are copied in their entirety below:

GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN SUPPORT OF PACIFIC GATEWAY

1.  The Downtown Partnership embraces this unique opportunity to reclaim and comprehensively plan nearly 15 acres of our waterfront, provided that an appropriate balance is achieved between intensity of development and the incorporation of publicly accessible open space and amenity that is       commensurate with the significance of this special site.  Given the extent of new public parkland planned for both the North and South Embarcadero, the Downtown Partnership believes that the density of   development proposed for this site is appropriate and acceptable.

2.  The Downtown Partnership strongly supports increased density, especially in the form of office occupancy, throughout Downtown, provided that such density is supported by well-designed, appropriate public infrastructure in the form of open space, streetscape improvements, view corridors and            other public amenities.

3.   Having reviewed the current master plan for Pacific Gateway, the Downtown Partnership has the following specific observations and recommendations:

·        The creation of contemporary “San Diego Architecture” entails much more than references to the city’s historical icons.  Given the scale and significance of this project, we urge the development team to strive for the highest level of contemporary design in its execution, and not to rely on derivative historical pastiche.

·        The “cultural facility” should be concentrated in one location on the site, and it should be designed as a civic “icon.”  This space should not be scattered throughout the site within the ground level of other buildings.  Ideally, this iconic building should be located immediately south of the primary park space at Broadway and Harbor Drive and should interact with that public space.

·        The east side of the project (along Pacific Highway) should incorporate significant street-level, neighborhood-serving retail space that activates the street and the adjacent community.

     4.   The Partnership supports the execution of a signed development agreement before January 1, 2007, in order to avoid returning this site to the unpredictable outcome of the BRAC process.

5.  The Downtown Partnership supports a rigorous and thorough review of the Pacific Gateway master plan by CCDC, and we fully expect that the salient urban design tenets represented in the amended 1992 Navy Broadway Complex development agreement will be enforced and adhered to.

The Downtown San Diego Partnership was formed in 1993 with the merger of two prominent business associations:  San Diegans Inc. (formed in 1958), and the Centre City Association (formed in 1952.)  Today, the Partnership has more than 325 members and serves as the leading advocate for Downtown economic development, residential living, entertainment, and the arts. 

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