San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/17/2006 -- Corky McMillin Companies’ Executive Can Speak to Decisions Faced by Communities Impacted by Recent Round of Closure Announcements and Successful Strategies for Redevelopment and How Communities Can Succeed in the Face of Closures.

WHO: Walter Heiberg, Senior Vice President, Corky McMillin Companies; Redevelopment Project Manager of the former Naval Training Center in San Diego

WHAT: When the Naval Training Center in San Diego closed, the US Navy required an “Economic Development Conveyance” to replace the jobs and dollars lost when 25,000 sailors and jobs shipped out. And a “Public Benefit Conveyance” was required to provide the community with park land and open space. The City of San Diego made a decision to avoid financing the project through public bonds, and instead worked with private development company, The Corky McMillin Companies, to expedite the reuse plan under its direction.

Through this public-private partnership, the two entities in San Diego are collaborating in the redevelopment of the decommissioned Naval Training Center (since renamed Liberty Station), which has quickly become a powerful case study for communities struggling with a reuse plan of their own.

• While Liberty Station is already 60% complete, Compared to other bases closed, 28% of bases closed in the same BRAC round have yet to begin development.
• The project is a model of public private partnership between The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency, The Corky McMillin Companies and the non-profit NTC Foundation.
• The city benefits in many ways with this public/private partnership, including tax increment, ownership of a majority of the property, and the creation of a vibrant, mixed used community much faster than planned for.
• While there have been debates, the partners have maintained a strong working relationship that created a series of checks and balances and set strict requirements to ensure that the infrastructure and historic preservation components were completed in step with the more profitable residential and commercial aspects of the project.
• Already, the residential district is completed and 100% occupied while the retail and commercial space is currently under construction. The educational district and office district is nearing completion with 5 schools and dozens of businesses onsite, the park has just begun, and the arts and cultural district – called NTC Promenade – is underway.
• The project has been hailed as the perfect balance of residential, office, schools, recreation, retail and hotels. This includes a Spanish Colonial Revival architectural masterpiece with museums and galleries, a 46-acre waterfront park, shops and restaurants, a nine-hole golf course, a business district, hotels, a residential district, state-of-the-art schools and an impressive 16-acre outdoor promenade which runs the entire length of Liberty Station.
• The project bridges “old” and “new” for generations of San Diegans to come.

TOPICS: Conveyance requirements
Funding redevelopment
Rplacing lost revenue
Project case study