Chinatown? : CCDC Takes Reluctant Look at Proposal

A proposal to transform 4 1/2 blocks of downtown San Diego into a modern Chinatown--complete with offices, retail stores, restaurants, housing, a high-rise hotel and cultural center--was greeted less than enthusiastically Friday by the Centre City Development Corp. (CCDC)

The ambitious proposal, which would require almost as much property as was necessary for Horton Plaza, was presented by Tom Hom Investment Corp., headed by Tom Hom, the former San Diego councilman and state assemblyman who is an active local Republican Party leader.

Hom said his Pacific Rim Centre proposal is designed to reflect the strong presence of Asians, including Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos, in downtown San Diego from the 1860s to shortly before World War II.

However, there is little in the downtown today, except for a handful of old buildings built and lived in by Chinese, that bears resemblance to that past.

And unlike cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, there isn’t an identifiable Asian population in downtown San Diego.

“We’re the only city on the West Coast . . . that doesn’t have an Asian presence, and we’re on the Pacific Rim,” Hom told CCDC board members.

“I think it’s exciting, too,” said Gerald Trimble, executive vice president of CCDC, of the proposal, “but, unfortunately, I think it’s in the wrong location.”

Hom wants to build on 4 1/2 blocks bounded by 1st and 3rd avenues, Market Street and the railroad tracks along the waterfront. At one time, it was the location of San Diego’s Chinatown, Japantown and Filipino district.

Hom was vague about financing for the project, though he estimated its cost at about $90 million, and not all of it private money. He said the development would need a government subsidy to complete the housing portion of 320 units, though the exact cost of such a subsidy hasn’t been determined.

While two CCDC board members, Gil Ontai and Janay Kruger, called Hom’s proposal “inspiring,” Trimble and other board members, such as Jan Anton, said there were several problems with it.

One is that about half the site is under the control of Shapell Housing Inc. and Goldrich Kest and Associates, which hold a contract with CCDC that gives them first right to develop the property until 1989. Another conflict is that at least two other land owners in the area have development plans of their own.

Neil Senturia, a Los Angeles developer who wants to build a 24-story mixed-use project at 3rd Avenue and J Street, took possession of his property last week, according to his attorney, Louis Wolfsheimer of San Diego. And Fritz Ahern, who owns land along 3rd Avenue, told the CCDC board he wants to pursue a development that makes use of the few remaining Chinese-built buildings nearby.

“There are property owners in this area who have plans to develop,” said Anton, who explained he didn’t want to get caught in a situation where CCDC takes land from one developer and gives it to another “because it’s a nice design.”

“I have real problems with this,” he said, noting that if CCDC embraced the project, it could “snowball into something that doesn’t fit . . . in size or economics.”

And yet another obstacle, according to Trimble, is that the city’s redevelopment plan and an interim design ordinance enacted just this week require that projects in the Marina redevelopment area, in which Hom’s proposal lies, be predominantly residential.

Hom, who emphasized that his project would employ 1,500 people, sought CCDC’s conceptual approval. But the majority of CCDC’s board members were clearly reluctant to give it.

Without taking a formal vote, Hom’s proposal was turned over to Trimble and his staff to try and work out some solution. “The concept is worth pursuing,” said Kruger, a CCDC board member. “I think we should refer it over to explore compromises.”