While the mayor of San Diego is forced to kick his heels and by his time on the convention expansion, the city of Chula Vista has voted to move ahead with the new convention center on their waterfront. San Diego Union Tribune reporter is here to explain why this is such a big deal for Chula Vista For one think it's a big deal because Chula Vista has waited 20 years for this. They stopped and started planning and they had a developer at one times and then the great recession hit and that developer had to back out and interestingly Gaylord is back in this project again as the operator and will be the operator of the hotel and the convention center. This is part of the effort to redevelop the water for this was always invented -- envisioned as a centerpiece and nothing can go ahead and a profitable way until this really was solidified and with that happening there hoping that this will suddenly inspire more investment in this bayfront. Describe what is going to go there if this plan comes to fruition? Is going to be a 1450 room hotel linked to a convention center so it's all in one complex. They haven't gone to the design but they are envisioning a lazy river, 1500 space parking garage and they are going to need more roads but the basics is full-service convention center of about 275,000 ft.² to put that in perspective, the city has been trying to add about 400,000 ft.² or more to their convention center. So no one seems to think that is going to be a competitive thing with San Diego. You would've thought that perhaps it might be but poor districts are think know it's more likely to complement the convention center. They said that yesterday also. Italy accommodating groups of a couple thousand attendees. That size is more dasher not gonna find that at the convention center. Maybe during times when they have to fill spots during the off-season, you will not see a group that size go to the convention center but they might go to a downtown convention center hotel where they need to fill their convention space. The CEO of the developer said yesterday I'm staying at the hotel downtown and you have this big biotech convention right now. The convention center could've helped let's say American Express or pharmaceuticals wants to come and have their own convention, they could not have foot best fit their. They could've gone to Chula Vista. That spot on Senegal Bay has always been pretty inaccessible. There's a power plant and a picture of the big tower coming down. Is a plan to help public space in front of the convention center or would it block off the bay? They are trying to say that it's going to be more accessible because Envision is part of this project and parts of the master plan. That will be are part of the infrastructure. In the initial stage of all that, it's about 56 million and the public entities will be paying for that. The city of Chula Vista and poor districts are going to have to subsidize this. Is atypical for public entities to kick that much in the development? I think in the past and Downtown San Diego before it really started thriving, you saw subsidies. It is well-developed. In this master-planned area there isn't a lot there. There is think that a developer the only could find one developer. Is a challenging project. It is financially. There is nothing there. Their argument is that the subsidies will be repaid from hotel taxes from the project, existing lease revenues on the port, lease revenues from this project. They are seeing that going to get paid back but the developer could not have gotten the required return on their investment without the subsidy. It was interesting that developers expect a profit of 10 to 11%. Is it fair to have a public subsidize to that level question I was thinking about that also. I thought when I covered the hearing yesterday I thought there's going to be some people coming for opposition and raising up. There was not a single voice of opposition to that. I think this community has covered this project for so long that they think it is money was spent and at the end of the day over 66 years the port is estimating that they will ultimately recapture over $2 million in revenues. It's worth mentioning that the city of Oceanside has been held up for over several years. We will see how that plays out. Is this going to affect the whole South Bay region do you think? You had people coming to the microphone yesterday saying this is a real win-win for South Bay. They think it will have a spillover effect for the whole region. This is going to elevate the profile of South Bay. Thank you so much for giving us a glimpse of this project.
A plan to build a convention center and hotel on Chula Vista's waterfront is moving forward.
Port commissioners and members of the Chula Vista City Council approved an agreement Tuesday with RIDA Development to build the 1,450-room hotel and 275,000-square-foot convention center.
San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Lori Weisberg has been following the story and covered Tuesday's decision.
She joined KPBS Midday Edition on Wednesday to tell us more about the project.
