Officials yesterday unveiled plans for San Diego's proposed $1B-plus "SoccerCity" project, which "would include up to 4,800 homes, more than 3 million square feet of office and retail space, 55 acres of parks and nearly as many parking spaces as currently exist" at the 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium site, according to a front-page piece by Showley & Zeigler of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Public soccer fields, three residential high-rises up to 26 stories, two hotels with a total of 450 rooms and "reserved space for a second trolley line and station are in the mix." California-based FS Investors is the group "aiming to bring" MLS to San Diego by '20 and redevelop the site. The group proposes to "lease 79.9 acres of the Qualcomm site and then buy it in phases at fair market value in its unentitled and unimproved state." FS Investors Principal Nick Stone said that the design and development plans by Gensler architectural firm have been "shared behind the scenes over the last few weeks" with Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego State, business leaders and environmentalists. The proponents will now "present their plan to San Diego city voters in the form of a ballot initiative, due for publication Thursday, that will require about 72,000 registered voters to become valid." The City Council will be "asked to fast-track the process by approving the plan in June" to meet MLS expansion deadlines. The developers "would have to build a stadium" by '24 or else the land would revert back to the city. One alternative has "called for the city to donate the land to SDSU." SDSU is "identified as a potential stadium partner for its football program, but the university has sent increasingly lukewarm signals about its support of the plan" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/21).
PUT UP OR SHUT UP: In San Diego, Kevin Acee writes if there is a "better plan than the one these local investors have" to develop the Qualcomm property, someone needs to "step up and show the money soon." If there is someone out there who "wants to be San Diego State’s Stan Kroenke, providing an actual option, we should all be very excited to listen." Acee: "Otherwise, let’s get moving. We must stop allowing the obstructionists to get in the way of progress in San Diego." It is "irresponsible for anyone to stand in the way of this with nothing more than words and a dream" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/21).
