The Paseo development pushed to back burner
Union-Tribune 2/12/07
Months before the project was due to break ground in 2005, SDSU officials caused controversy by taking control of the proposed $350 million development.
In February 2006, Mayor Jerry Sanders' office stepped in to try to broker a compromise to save The Paseo. But Sanders' land-use chief Jim Waring said it has remained stalled, despite frequent meetings, and may be stuck in the mayor's office while Sanders grapples with more pressing matters, such as the city's financial crisis.
“It's an important development but compared to the things we're dealing with, it doesn't exactly jump out and grab you by the throat (in priority),” Waring said.
The hang-up on The Paseo is a philosophical one over who controls the development, Waring said.
“The city has said consistently that we should have private developers come in and build it, not us, not government,” he said. “I think private enterprise does it more efficiently.”
University officials say they want to control the development because they have the financial backing to make sure it gets done, and because they would like to modify the design to make it more suited to university uses.
The Paseo was intended to combine housing for 1,400 students with retail space, theaters and parking on a two-block area near the campus's trolley station.
It's dangerous, officials said, to build apartments with balconies because so many colleges nationwide have suffered tragedies from students falling from them. And with students being tech-savvy and working erratic schedules, university officials say it didn't make sense to build a multiplex theater of more than a dozen screens for the campus area.
University spokesman Jack Beresford said SDSU still has interest in the project, but it's not as much of a priority as San Diego State's master development plan. The design for The Paseo is also several years old and no longer makes economic sense, so plans would need to be revised, Beresford said.
City Councilman Jim Madaffer has been trying to save The Paseo, which took 18 years to plan. Madaffer has dubbed the project “Horton Plaza West,” and has said he doesn't trust SDSU to develop a project that will suit the needs of both the neighborhood and the university.
One of the most popular parts of The Paseo's proposal had been the housing mixed in with the retail stores, movie theaters and cafes. The planned apartment-style housing would be within easy walking distance of SDSU.
Housing is a huge issue for the College Area, where homes rented to college students have been a source of friction with neighbors.
The university is proposing to build much-needed student housing on campus. How soon that will happen is unclear.
Officials hope to seek approval in September for the new 20-year master development plan from the California State University board of trustees, which governs the 23 universities in the system.