San Diego State yesterday released details of its "proposed development plan for the city’s former Chargers stadium property in Mission Valley," according to a front-page piece by Steele & Showley of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The list "includes an expandable 35,000-seat stadium" for SDSU football games. The school said that the facility "could also accommodate professional soccer games as well as other sports and could be expanded if the NFL ever returns to San Diego." Consultants "valued the project" at $3B but "provided no breakdown for land acquisition or public improvements." The school "plans to pay for the stadium without raising student fees or tapping state funds and developers would cover the cost of the commercial buildings and housing." SDSU officials said that they "would seek to purchase the 166-acre, city-owned site at fair market value." The plan "includes two hotels, 4,500 housing units for students, faculty and the public, retail space, office buildings to share with SDSU departments and researchers, and about 90 acres of parkland, plazas and walkways." It puts "more meat on the bones of SDSU’s proposal, which was announced months ago, and positions it to compete on next year’s ballot" with an MLS-oriented plan with "similar uses" by La Jolla-based FS Investors. FS Investors Principal Nick Stone said that the "two proposals are 'virtually identical' in format." That "leaves the focus on the financing." SDSU AD John David Wicker said that the school has been "negotiating to keep" SDCCU Stadium open "until it builds a replacement that could open" by '22 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/30).
