Prebys Foundation steps in to fund Civic Center redevelopment study

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The Conrad Prebys Foundation, a prominent philanthropic organization, will be stepping in with $303,000 to kickstart San Diego’s ambitious plan to redevelop six city-owned blocks in downtown after efforts to find interested buyers stalled.

The foundation announced the move to aid the city’s Civic Center redevelopment on Tuesday alongside the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

On the foundation’s dime, the two have hired Philadelphia-based real estate consulting company, U3 Advisors, to examine options for the Civic Center redevelopment ahead of another attempt to market the buildings for private buyers looking to renovate the blocks later this year.

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“A city as unique as San Diego deserves a civic center that embodies our collective, hopeful spirit and honors the diversity of our communities and cultures,” Grant Oliphant, CEO of the Prebys Foundation, said in a statement. “The initiative reflects a strategic response to the challenges faced by downtown areas nationwide, offering a visionary model for urban renewal.”

The foundation’s step revives the large-scale project spearheaded by Mayor Todd Gloria to transform the property that make up the aging Civic Center that stretches between A Street in the north and C Street in the south, and First Avenue and Third Avenue to the east and west.

The goal of the initiative, according to city officials, would be to offload expensive, deteriorating or otherwise underutilized public land into the hands of private developers who could turn the blocks into a new mixed-use hub with hundreds of affordable housing units. The purchase would help fund building or buying a new City Hall facility.

As the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, the city offered up the complex for sale or lease to developers last May, but the solicitation failed to bring any groups to the table beyond two parties that expressed interest in the embattled tower at 101 Ash St.

The state’s Surplus Land Act, which guides how municipalities can offload excess land and prioritizes the construction of low-income housing, was a main hurdle for developers that led to the failed attempt.

As the city looks towards a future solicitation, U3 Advisors will be conducting an analysis from an existing 2023 report by the San Diego Civic Center Revitalization Committee to draw up creative concepts for the municipal blocks in the meantime — a move that the Prebys Foundation says will facilitate securing a master developer for the project.

The urban planning group has managed several other municipal development projects in this capacity, including the creation of a 19-acre mixed-use affordable residential community and cultural district in Atlanta’s civic center.

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“I’m grateful to the Prebys Foundation and the Downtown San Diego Partnership for their continued collaboration as we work to transform Downtown’s civic core,” Gloria said in a statement. “This next step will help pave the way  to creating a civic center that works for all San Diegans and is reflective of our world-class Downtown.”

The work by U3 is anticipated to begin in May, with a final report anticipated to reach the city by the end of August. The Downtown San Diego Partnership will oversee the consultants and serve as an intermediary between the group and other local stakeholders.

As a privately funded effort, the Prebys official says city will not be bound by the recommendations, but rather serve as a map to chart the best path forward.

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