The Harbor Square shopping district, located at the south end of Point Loma’s former Naval Training Center, recently reached the 100 percent lease-out mark to local businesses, bringing Liberty Station into the final phases of a decade-long redevelopment plan.
Several hotels, restaurants and retail shops have leased space in Harbor Square, including The Harbor Greek Café, Royal Spices Thai and Sushiya, joining the already existing Subway Sandwiches, Rose’s Nails and Starbucks Coffee.
But the commercialization of Harbor Square is just one component of Liberty Station’s transformation from a historic naval base into a residential, cultural and shopping district.
Gregory Block, director of communications for the Corky McMillin Companies, a California homebuilding company charged with the redevelopment of Liberty Station, estimates that retail space at the nearby Marketplace, which already houses a Trader Joe’s and a Vons supermarket, is already 80 percent leased.
Tasked with the redevelopment project on behalf of the city, McMillin has tried to reconcile the city’s desire to bring commerce to the region while maintaining its historic relevance, said Block.
To prepare the area for the redevelopment, McMillin has been planning to restore ten former NTC buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, Block said.
Their facades will become “warm shells,” or exteriors reflecting their 1920s architectural foundations, but “ready for a tenant to do what they want inside.”
“Barracks buildings will never be a barracks again, but we don’t want people to forget … we have to adaptively reuse them,” Block said.
Block said the reconstruction company must also be cautious while handling hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead paint found in these early 20th-century buildings, while contending with the obstructive drop ceilings the Navy installed during its tenure.
Traffic and parking are also of concern to the public and Liberty Station’s planners.
Dee Wylie, the newly elected chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, observed that “Because of the increase in retail, the Rock Church, schools et cetera, there has been a decided increase in traffic” in the NTC area.
The planning board will discuss plans to mitigate traffic at the east end of Liberty Station on July 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Point Loma Branch Library.
Before becoming Liberty Station, the area was known as the Naval Training Center for more than 75 years.
It was closed to the general public until 1997, when the Navy transferred the property to the city of San Diego as an “Economic Development Conveyance.”
According to Block, the dual purpose of the NTC redevelopment was to reinvigorate jobs and tax revenue for the city.
A decade later, Block already views Liberty Station as a success, citing the $5 million in taxes generated by the hotels and an estimated $215 million in property taxes to be reinvested into the area.
“The process is a huge asset for this community and for the city,” Block said. “This base, this property in the middle of Point Loma was closed for 75 years … But [today] people can walk to the store instead of drive. People live here, in a live-work-play community.”
To oversee the community’s development, the city of San Diego established the NTC Reuse Committee, which finalized an expansive plan for Liberty Station that includes housing, golf courses, education centers and a park, according to Wayne Raffesberger, who represents Point Loma on the committee.
Raffesberger, a Point Loma resident for more than two decades, says he is happy with the progress at Liberty Station ” except in one area.
“What we still haven’t gotten resolved with the city, the Navy and the EPA is cleaning up the channel,” he said, adding that it has become polluted over the years and has hindered the completion of NTC park, which opened July 3.
Nonetheless, Raffesberger said, “Once they do [clean the area], they can finish landscaping the edge of that thing and it will be a terrific place to watch kayaks and sailboats.”