San Diego

Port of San Diego Approves Coastal Permit for Chula Vista Bayfront Resort

A coastal permit to begin construction for a billion-dollar resort was approved for the Chula Vista Bayfront Tuesday.

The Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners unanimously approved the permit for RIDA Chula Vista, LLC, and granted concept approval for the billion-dollar expansion project.

The Resort hotel and convention center will be the anchor component of the Harbor District and is expected to cost approximately $1.129 Billion, which includes both on and offsite costs for private development and infrastructure, according to the Port of San Diego's website.

"This community has long dreamed about maximizing this space and taking advantage of our beautiful bay, and cleaning up legacies of environmental and industrial degradation, restoring that, and actually having access by our community to the water," Chula Vista Deputy Mayor Stephen Padilla said.

The same company that built the Hilton Orlando hotel and convention center and the Omni Orlando at Champions Gate will build the hotel tower and convention center sitting on the western edge of Chula Vista. 

The Chula Vista hotel tower will have a maximum height of 240 feet with the convention center building standing no higher than 120-feet tall.  

As for parking, an analysis completed last month shows the hotel and convention center will use ride share, buses, airport shuttles, the San Diego Trolley and the Bayshore Bikeway. Planners also expect the resort will use a Bayfront Shuttle system and ferry or water taxi service as well. 

The garage to be built with the resort will include at least 1,600 spaces. While there will be several small lots in the area of the resort, street parking created as part of the future Harbor Park will not be used for convention center parking, according to the Port of San Diego's staff report.

With a planned opening in mid-2023, there will be stages of contruction including: 

  • Site preparation mid-2020 through early-2021
  • Concrete and steel structure early 2021 through mid-2022
  • Interiors completed mid-2021 through mid-2023
Once the close of escrow occurs, the District and RIDA would execute a 66-year ground lease.

The Port of San Diego manages the 34 miles of coastline along the San Diego bay which spans five different cities. 

The resort and convention center will be a part of a 37-acre development. An EIR was conducted on the proposal in 2010 and the California Coastal Commission approved the project in 2012.

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