CCDC Volunteers Its Muscle to Rid Gaslamp Quarter of Blight Vestiges

The long bureaucratic effort to revitalize the historic Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego is on the verge of another major step.

The Centre City Development Corp. (CCDC), the agency responsible for downtown’s redevelopment, is recommending that it be given the authority to go into the heart of the 16 1/2-block district and essentially put 11 pieces of property--all of them run-down, vacant or home to peep shows and adult movie theaters--out to bid to restoration-minded developers.

The proposal, which will be up for discussion and approval Friday by the CCDC board of directors, comes after CCDC officials have spent several years trying to coax the current owners into upgrading or selling their properties.

However, the owners have either been unwilling or unable to make their buildings conform with design and uses called for in the historic district, according to Pamela Hamilton, CCDC’s acting executive director.

Even though the Gaslamp Quarter was officially designated a National Historic District in 1980, change in the area has come slowly. There are still a number of adult theaters, adult bookstores and peep shows in the district, although its honky-tonk image is gradually being transformed.

Redevelopment Muscle

The change is particularly evident across from Horton Plaza along 4th Avenue where, up to now, CCDC has used its redevelopment muscle, backed by the power of eminent domain, to wrestle for change and revitalization.

As the nearby $150-million convention center on Harbor Drive gets closer to completion, there is renewed pressure to clean up the rest of the Gaslamp Quarter. And this latest proposal by CCDC would greatly advance that goal by placing the agency squarely on 5th Avenue, the historic district’s Main Street. Of the 11 properties, 10 of them are on 5th Avenue.

“We’re identifying the buildings we think are the last vestiges of real blight,” Hamilton said Wednesday. She said that rehabilitating these properties would help “to finally get the mass of critical blood down there” to change the area for good.

“The reason we want to move now is that we want to finish before the convention center opens,” she said, explaining that the center holds the promise of adding thousands of people to Gaslamp’s streets looking for restaurants and entertainment.

The agency has said repeatedly in the past that it has no intention of “sanitizing” the area, but that there is now an imbalance in favor of adult-entertainment type uses.

“It’s a wonderful area but still inconsistent when you look at the uses there. That’s the problem, it’s too spotty,” according to Hamilton.

Proposals Scheduled

Although CCDC is asking developers to make proposals on the privately owned properties, the agency says it is possible that some of the existing owners, seeing that CCDC is serious, may change their mind and decide to upgrade their property.

“I’m only interested in getting the properties rehabilitated . . . by whatever means,” Hamilton said.

Developers will have until Dec. 19 to make their proposals. If the agency selects a developer for one of the properties, the developer will then try to buy the property from the landowner with CCDC’s help. If that effort fails, CCDC can use its power of eminent domain to acquire the property, using money from the developer to pay for it.

CCDC has had to resort to eminent domain twice in the Gaslamp Quarter.

Officials from the Gaslamp Quarter Council, the group that represents businesses, property owners and residents in the district, say they favor CCDC’s proposal. It was the Gaslamp Quarter Council that asked CCDC in 1984 to become involved to change the area.

“We’re excited they are making the . . . step,” said Howard Greenberg, the council’s chairman. “I’d like to see what kind of proposals we get . . . and also to see if this spurs the current owners” to do something.

“Obviously, this is a step in the right direction,” Greenberg said.

The properties contained in the proposal include:

Cole Block Building, on the northwest corner of 5th Avenue and G Street; McGurk Building, northeast corner of 5th Avenue and Market Street (this contains three parcels under one ownership); Foxy Theater, 655-657 5th Ave.; Louis Fritz Building, 756-760 5th Ave.; Nesmith-Greeley Building, 825-831 5th Ave.; Loring Building, 762-764 5th Ave.; William Penn Hotel, 501-515 F St.; Dream Theater, 755 5th Ave., and Montrose Building, 715-719 4th Ave.