The U.S. Navy selected development team Manchester-Edgemoor to rebuild more than 70 acres of land less than a mile from the San Diego International Airport.
The long, white and red warehouses spanning the Pacific Highway were built during World War II to manufacture bomber planes.
The buildings — and their plumbing and wiring — are more than 80 years old; it's time-consuming to cross on foot and sweltering in the summer.
Yet they’re currently housing the cybersecurity branch of the U.S. Navy — the Information Warfare Systems Command, or NAVWAR.
“They’re working some very high-tech operations out of this facility, and it’s basically a warehouse,” said Manchester Financial Group President Ted Eldridge. “A new building is good for our national security. Let’s put it that way.”
The roughly 5,000 employees handle all the Navy’s networking, hardware, satellites and sensors, said project manager Greg Geisen.
“We’re kind of the Best Buy cybergeeks,” he said.
Geisen declined to say what other developers were under consideration for the redevelopment.
The winning team was made up of a San-Diego-based Manchester Financial Group — who also developed the Navy complex on Broadway — and Virginia-based Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate, who co-developed the Long Beach Civic Center.
As part of the deal, they would build new Navy facilities first, for free, in exchange for development rights to the rest of the land.
Their proposal condenses the Navy site and would use the rest of the land for between 4,000 and 10,000 new units of housing.
That maximum is roughly double the amount of units that housing-squeezed San Diego typically permits in an entire year.
“The opportunity to put this type of housing on a transit line this close to downtown is really a godsend,” Geisen said.
It might also include elements like shops, offices and a public park.
There are currently Amtrak and trolley stations next to the site, but the redevelopment could add additional on-site stations.
Federal land is exempt from local zoning restrictions, so Manchester-Edgemoor could build tall, interrupting the view.
Geisen said they would work with SANDAG to plan for increased congestion.
He acknowledged pushback from neighbors in Mission Hills to the initial draft designs.
He said those designs didn’t involve an artist and aren’t reflective of what the development will actually look like. They plan to re-engage with the public when designs are more solidified.
“Density is important, but we're also very sensitive to the community and to the city of San Diego,” Eldridge said. “So we're willing to work with the community and stakeholders to make sure it's something that's positive for everybody.”
The Navy is still negotiating a contract with Manchester-Edgemoor.
After plans finish, and before public input, they will need to get government approval.
They hope to break ground in two years.
