San Diego port district updates Chula Vista Bayfront revenue sharing agreement
October 8, 2020
Commissioners also approve amendment for Chula Vista parks designs services.
SAN DIEGO—The Port of San Diego’s Board of Port Commissioners separately approved amendments to two agreements associated with the Chula Vista Bayfront project, Sept. 10. One agreement was updated to direct additional funds for a parks design services contract. The other amendment updated a revenue sharing agreement the port district has with the city of Chula Vista.
Chula Vista Revenue Sharing
A funding agreement between the port district, San Diego County, city of Chula Vista and the Chula Vista Bayfront Facilities Financing Authority was authorized in October 2019. The agreement called for San Diego County to contribute $25 million to help build the Bayfront project’s resort hotel and convention center. Property tax revenues would help the county recoup its investment, according to port district staff.
Chula Vista, the port district and the developer (RIDA) are about to enter the financing phase of the Chula Vista Bayfront project, which proposes to bring 1,600-some hotel rooms and 275,000-square-foot convention center near Chula Vista Harbor. Port district staff stated the revenue sharing plan between the parties involved needed to be clarified as they enter into the financing phase.
The process for paying expenses associated with the project had to be simplified, as well, according to port district staff.
Commissioners approved an amendment to the Chula Vista Bayfront revenue sharing agreement and directed the port district and city of Chula Vista to identify the “revenue sources the [port] district must contribute to the [Chula Vista Bayfront Facilities Financing] Authority before and after Close of Escrow,” according to a port district staff report.
Revenue sources to be included under the updated agreement include rent payments from ground leases within the Chula Vista Bayfront property and lease revenues from the Chula Vista RV Park.
An estimated $303 million in public funding is being directed to the Chula Vista Bayfront project – $63 million for the first phase of infrastructure improvements, and $240 million for the convention center.
Chula Vista Parks Design
The firm KTU+A received an additional $100,203 from the port district, as commissioners approved a contract amendment for the parks design services company to complete a site preparation component at Chula Vista Bayfront.
Port district staff stated the infusion of additional funds was not a budget increase.
KTU+A will now have $2,176,663 in funds available for its parks design services contract, up from $2,076,460. Commissioners selected the firm in 2016 for a design services project at Sweetwater Park and Harbor Park in the Chula Vista Bayfront.
The increase in funding would pay for KTU+A’s additional design services, due to “increases in project scope and budget for Sweetwater Park to accommodate development policies and stakeholder input,” according to port district staff.
Port district staff the additional $100,203 would also help pay for “signage and branding into the [Chula Vista Bayfront] Wayfinding Design Framework, both components of the streetscape design standards.”
Harbor Park was designated to be built in two phases and cost $47.5 million; Sweetwater Park’s development budget is $8.7 million.
Groundbreaking on the Chula Vista Bayfront project took place on Sept. 26, 2019.
Plans for the redeveloped Chula Vista Bayfront called for an estimated 200 acres of parks to be built, in addition to public open spaces, walking trails and promenades.
