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San Diego is making progress with five of the seven teams that submitted bids to lease – and completely renovate – the 48-acre state-owned land surrounding the Midway District sports arena.
On Thursday, the city announced it would begin negotiations with the Discover Midway, Midway Village +, Midway Rising, HomeTownSD and Neighborhood Next development teams. Suggestions from Panacea Group and Cotterkey Investments were deemed unresponsive and have been removed from the field.
The teams are vying for a long-term lease for the city’s properties at 3500, 3250, 3220, and 3240 Sports Arena Blvd.
The property includes the San Diego Sports Arena, which was built in 1966 and served as the longtime home of the San Diego Gulls. The bidders were instructed to submit redevelopment plans with a new or improved sports arena and to provide at least 25 percent of the proposed housing units for lower-income families.
“This project will bring San Diego’s much-needed affordable housing and serve as a catalyst for the revitalization of a neighborhood that has waited years to transform,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement. “With multiple answers to consider, we are confident that this process will be a success for the Midway community and for our entire city.”
The qualified applicants will now take part in a 90-day negotiation phase, which ends on March 4th. However, the end date is just the starting point for a selection process that will likely include community input and councilor feedback, and will require additional. Months back and forth negotiating the rental terms.
In a press release, the city said it would use the negotiation phase to “generate the greatest return for the community”.
The current disposition process is the city’s second attempt to discharge the land, this time with local leaders strictly adhering to the state’s new rules for leasing or selling excess land. That’s because San Diego was forced to abandon the original application process after the California Department of Housing and Community Development informed local leaders that the community was operating outside the boundaries of the Surplus Land Act.
The law, which dates from the 1980s and was amended in 2019, requires local agencies to prioritize affordable home builders – or risk hefty fines – when disposing of their surplus property. For example, the city of Anaheim faces a $ 96 million fine if it does not reverse the sale of the Angel Stadium and surrounding parking lots to a company controlled by team owner Arte Moreno.
In the second attempt from San Diego, qualified applicants suggest dense, planned communities with apartments, retail stores, offices, parking areas and, in some cases, additional sports facilities or hotels. Each team deals with affordable housing and arena components in different ways, but all envision building a target neighborhood for families with different income levels.
The groups are led by a who’s who list of luxury home builders, affordable housing developers and sports facility specialists.
The Discover Midway consortium includes Brookfield Properties and the existing arena operator ASM Global. Midway Village + is run by Toll Brothers’ Revitate residential and sporting real estate company. Midway Rising combines Zephyr from San Diego with the well-known arena operator Legends. HomeTownSD comes from the local companies Monarch Group and JMI Sports. And Neighborhood Next connects The ConAm Group with Wakeland and Community Housing Works.
The bidders are coordinated in developing visions that include buildings that protrude above the 30-foot height limit of the Midway District. San Diego voters lifted the restriction last year, but a legal challenge threatens to invalidate the election victory and could pose a barrier to development teams.
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