SDSU West approved for ballot

On Monday, March 12, the San Diego City Council voted unanimously to place the SDSU West initiative on the November 2018 ballot.

If approved by voters in November, the initiative would clear the way for the city to sell the land under the former Qualcomm Stadium site to San Diego State University to build a new stadium for the Aztecs football program, as well as student and faculty housing, a western campus, some retail and a river park.

The SDSU West initiative will compete against a similar proposal by FS Investors to build the site with a stadium for a Major League Soccer franchise, housing, commercial space, an entertainment district and a river park. That proposal was approved to be on the ballot last fall.

Civita announces more affordable housing

A mixed-use development in the Civita development will break ground this spring and include 103 affordable apartments for seniors and 203 affordable apartments for families, developers announced.

The project will be located at the intersection of Civita Boulevard and Via Alta and will include 37,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and seven floors of apartment homes, according to Colton Sudberry, president of Sudberry Properties, master developer of Civita. The apartments will bring the total number of affordable units in Civita to 456.

Sudberry Properties will own and manage the retail portion of the project. Retail tenants have not been announced.

The affordable units are being developed by Chelsea Investment Corporation, a real estate company focused on financing and developing affordable housing.

Siena Apartments for seniors will include one- and two-bedroom floor plans and Stylus Apartments for families will include two- and three-bedroom floor plans.

Siena apartments are designed for seniors in the “extremely low income” range (30 percent of the area median income) with rents anticipated to start at $500 per month. Rents at Stylus apartments, which are designed for families with 50 to 60 percent of the area median income, are estimated to start at $965. Affordable housing rents are set by the state.

The apartments will include courtyards landscaped with picnic and barbecue areas, fitness equipment, and outdoor entertaining areas. Both Siena and Stylus will include a large club room with a fully equipped kitchen for events and gatherings.

The development is convenient to a planned elementary school site and a block from Civita Park.

For more information regarding the affordable apartments, please contact Jodi Rothery with Chelsea Investment Corporation at [email protected].

A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled on-site for April 12 and completion of the project is estimated to be sometime in 2020.

Airport features mural by SDSU professor

Visitors to San Diego International Airport (SAN) may notice a new artistic addition to the scenic airfield by the bay.

Starting in late February, travelers have taken in a mural by Eva Struble, associate professor of painting and printmaking at San Diego State University.

Stretching 144 feet wide and 6 feet tall, the mural is a combination of Struble’s previous works with an added digital component. The piece, printed on vinyl and attached to aluminum sheeting, also incorporates scenes of endangered local plants and animals.

“The project taught me a different type of ideation,” said Struble in a press release. “I needed to imagine the project from a moving vehicle, from a plane taxiing in the distance, and also on a human scale.”

The art installation is located on Admiral Boland Way, between Sassafras and Palm streets.

“We’re thrilled that Eva Struble’s vibrant mural will enliven a busy corridor on the airport campus, one that’s passed by hundreds of travelers each day,” said Lauren Lockhart, Airport Arts Program Manager at SAN. “Since the mural site will turnover annually, this new public art project presents an exciting opportunity for multiple regional artists to have their work showcased at SAN.”

This is not the first time the airport has called on a SDSU professor to curate artwork. The airport art exhibition, “Point of Entry,” which ran through late 2017, was curated by faculty member Norma Iglesias-Prieto and featured the work of professor Matthew Higgins.

The mural is a part of the airport’s Temporary Exhibition Program and just one element of SAN’s larger commitment to realizing original, integrated public artwork to enhance the airport environment and showcase the talent and culture of the San Diego region. In addition to public art, the Airport Arts Program includes temporary exhibitions and performing arts components, aimed at engaging travelers and creating an ambiance unique to San Diego. For more information about the Airport Arts Program, visit arts.san.org.

The mural will remain on display until January 2019.

Rotary donation to help clean water in Baja

On Feb. 13, the Art Pratt Foundation of Old Mission Rotary presented a grant of $5,977 to Aquam Technologies, LLC. Aquam is a water technology company that offers the only packaged water treatment plant that can deliver a four-hour treatment time; reduce total sludge volumes; and recover energy as direct electricity with no released methane.

The Art Pratt Foundation grant will be used to set up a water treatment plant at a school for a migrant farm camp in San Quintin, Baja California. Old Mission Rotary, which meets regularly in Mission Valley, has been active for a decade in assisting the Mestizo Indian population in the tomato farming region and now will be funding equipment that will supply fresh water to the children at the school. The local public water supply is heavily contaminated with agricultural chemicals.