Dump trucks began arriving at Chula Vista’s coastline Monday, hauling thousands of tons of dirt needed for the construction of a billion-dollar resort hotel and convention center.
The hotel is just one element of a master plan that was first discussed in 2002 and approved by the California Coastal Commission in 2012.
The project will be implemented jointly by the Port of San Diego and the City of Chula Vista in four major phases over a 24-year period.
The port wants to protect its investment. The added elevation will protect the soon-to-be constructed hotel from any potential rise in sea level, officials say.
“It’s very exciting,” said Mark McIntire the Port of San Diego Project Manager. “It’s a five-year project so that excitement goes in pretty extended ways.”
Approximately 400 dump trucks will leave UC San Diego and drive south on I-5 into Chula Vista every day, six days a week, through August.
The project will stop for a bit and then pick up again later in August through October, he said.
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The dirt is from the campus of UC San Diego where university officials are building a new facility.
“This is great, not only for the City of Chula Vista, which is huge, but also for the region at large and for the many, many visitors that’ll be coming to the San Diego region,” McIntire said.
The convention center and hotel will sit on 36 acres of the more than 535 acres of industrial bayfront that are being redeveloped.
There will be up to 1,600 rooms and 275,000 square feet of conference center space.
Other elements of the master plan include an RV park, 70 acres of new parks, 120 acres of open space and wetlands, a shoreline promenade with retail space and restaurants and a parking garage offering up to 3,000 parking spaces.
