IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME THEY DID SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Horton Plaza
$50 million project designed to make downtown center less of a fortress
By Jeanette Steele
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 1, 2008
Horton Plaza will no longer turn its back to the rest of downtown San Diego.
Owner Westfield Corp. plans a $50 million makeover at downtown's first big shopping center, built in the 1980s when south of Broadway meant tattoo parlors, pawn shops and adult bookstores.
Westfield
An artist's rendering of the proposed renovation of Horton Plaza shows the view from Broadway Circle to the mall's entrance.
NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune
Horton Plaza's owner wants to renovate the mall, which faces a small public park that features a fountain.
Back then, the center was designed as a fortress, with blank walls facing First and Fourth avenues. It was meant to make shoppers feel safe inside with their money.
These days, after a downtown renaissance sparked in part by Horton Plaza, Westfield feels it's time to embrace the street.
Plans filed yesterday show glass storefronts facing outward. A modern-looking, white facade would replace the pastel stucco walls on Broadway and Fourth Avenue. The Australia-based owner wants to start early next year and finish in early 2010.
Westfield is parking a big chunk of capital in San Diego with this and other projects.
It is spending $900 million to recast Westfield UTC in La Jolla as a “walkable village” with housing, offices and more retail space. A plan for a similar makeover at Westfield Mission Valley was filed in August.
Senior Vice President Jonathan Bradhurst said the company likes to hold on to its properties and spruce them up when needed.
Westfield, billed as the largest retail developer in the world, considers San Diego a valuable piece of its $63 billion portfolio, which includes North County mall in Escondido, Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad, Plaza Bonita in National City and Parkway mall in El Cajon.
Despite the turmoil on Wall Street, Bradhurst said Westfield has $7 billion in funding available for its global pipeline of construction projects.
Horton Plaza timeline
1972: Horton Plaza redevelopment project approved.
1974: Ernest W. Hahn Inc. signs exclusive negotiating agreement.
1978: Proposition 13 tax-cutting measure passes, requiring renegotiation of agreement; Hahn plans to buy land for $1 million and build and operate parking structure.
1980: Hahn company sold to Trizec Ltd. of Canada.
1982: Financing completed, construction begins.
1985: Project opens with 51 stores on Aug. 9; United Artists seven-screen cinema opens in December.
1989: Lyceum Theaters open.
1992: City Council approves construction of Horton Fourth Avenue, a housing and retail project that will cover up the Horton Plaza parking garage.
1998: Westfield America buys Horton Plaza and other San Diego County shopping centers.
1998: Horton Plaza gets a makeover, including a paint job and other refurbishing.
2001: Planet Hollywood closes.
2005: Horton Plaza celebrates its 20th anniversary.
2008: Westfield announces $50 million exterior renovation.
Online: For more renderings of the proposed renovation of Horton Plaza, go to uniontrib.com/more/horton
“We are very conservative and when the market's hot, some would say we're too conservative. But when the market turns upside down, we tend to look pretty clever,” he said.
“What that means is we're able to just look and make the right decisions, and not perhaps be so swayed by the current volatility.”
San Diego real estate consultant Gary London said Westfield probably doesn't have a choice about this makeover if it wants to keep up with the times.
“I bet what they are really saying is in order to remain competitive, they need to spend the money. It's not really a question of do they have the money,” London said.
In its day, Horton Plaza was touted as a breakthrough blueprint for an urban mall. In recent years, it has suffered the departure of major tenants such as Planet Hollywood and Mervyns. The Broadway frontage that once boasted a Robinsons-May now has no street-level occupant.
Despite businesses flourishing around it, Horton Plaza seems to be suffering from a now-dated design.
“At the moment . . . it ain't pretty,” Bradhurst said. “My vision is this has got to be Main and Main in the center of San Diego. This is Fifth Avenue. This is (Chicago's) Michigan Avenue.”
The Horton Plaza makeover has been rumored for a year or more. Bradhurst said the company spent the time talking to customers about what they want. With downtown's population increasing by 13,000 people since 2000, there are more residents to serve in addition to the traditional tourist base.
The feedback: People want an easier-to-use mall, more restaurant options and places to buy housewares and electronics.
Westfield also knows that the shopping center's maze-like ramps need to go. Bradhurst compared them to the moving staircases in a recent Harry Potter movie. But that renovation won't come until later, he said. The famous fruit-and-vegetable-themed parking garage will not be touched.
The new plan is for medium-sized tenants, not department stores, facing Broadway, Fourth and Broadway Circle. Bradhurst wouldn't name names, but said it's not the “shopping cart” crowd.
AdvertisementAnother developer has proposed big-box shopping on the eastern edge of downtown with a home-improvement store and a Target-like store. Bradhurst said that project won't be a direct competitor.
Westfield is biting off a smaller chunk at Horton Plaza, instead of going for the mixed-use “village” concept it chose for the other San Diego malls.
Bradhurst isn't ignoring that possibility, but said the demand would have to be obvious.
Westfield is not asking for public funding, officials said. But this project might spur the city's downtown redevelopment agency to revamp a small public park in front of Horton Plaza on Broadway.
Today, the park's highlight is a colorful tiled fountain. Despite its prominent location, the park doesn't get much use by downtown workers or tourists because of an entrenched homeless population.
The city ripped out the grass there at one point to make it less attractive for homeless encampments, said David Allsbrook, assistant vice president at Centre City Development Corp. But it didn't really work.
“Once we know what Westfield's doing, we will probably want to do something to that park,” Allsbrook said. “Maybe spruce up the fountain.”