There’s a new player involved in the ongoing struggle to transform San Diego’s downtown waterfront. A local developer it trying to provide a way forward.
Developer David Malmuth sees the arts as the way to put some life into the Embarcadero. He said if the arts community starts putting on shows and performances near the waterfront it will change people’s perception of the area.
A plan by the Port to renovate the Embarcadero has been halted by the Coastal Commission until a dispute about the park at the foot of Broadway is resolved. Malmuth said it was that fight between the Port and open space advocates that prompted him to act.
“This is my city, this is my backyard,” he said. “I felt like, maybe, a neutral party stepping in and bringing a different perspective or a different process might be able to get parties to work together that heretofore maybe haven’t been able to do that.”
The Port had initially agreed to sponsor a series of three of Malmuth’s workshops but then decided it wanted to wait. Malmuth decided to move forward on his own with a scaled down series.
