SAN DIEGO - The group behind the proposed "Soccer City" redevelopment plan for the 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium property in Mission Valley published their proposal Wednesday in a massive legal notice in the San Diego Union- Tribune.
The Notice of Intent to Circulate Petition is a required step before La Jolla-based FS Investors can gather signatures in support of the proposal, which calls for commercial and residential development, coupled with a stadium that could be used for both a professional soccer expansion franchise and San Diego State University's football team.
The petitions would later be submitted to the city, and if enough valid signatures of registered voters are gathered, the City Council would have to decide whether to adopt the plan or put it before voters.
Details released by FS Investors at a Monday news conference are included in the 51-page notice.
The group -- which is led by local businessman Michael Stone, and includes former Qualcomm President Steve Altman, technology entrepreneurs Massih and Masood Tayebi, Padres owner and local investor Peter Seidler, and Univision Sports President Juan Carlos Rodriguez -- plans to privately finance the project.
The plan's features include 55 acres of parkland, including an expanded San Diego River Park and six community recreation fields; a state-of-the-art stadium for professional soccer and collegiate football that could serve San Diego State, and also be the new home of high school football and soccer championship games; a sports and entertainment district with restaurants, shops, bars and live music; and a transit-oriented, mixed-use development that would include 3,520 market-rate residential units, 800 student-focused residential units and 480 affordable housing units.
The commercial area of the development would include 2.4 million square feet of office space, 740,000 square feet of commercial space, and two hotels with the potential for up to 450 rooms.
SDSU officials have for years eyed the property for campus expansion. Now that the Qualcomm Stadium site has become available with the Chargers announcing a move to Los Angeles, they've expressed reservations over whether the planned stadium could be expanded to 40,000 seats in the future, and whether the university would gain adequate revenues or ownership rights.
The SDSU student newspaper, The Daily Aztec, editorialized against the project Wednesday, calling it "a non-starter" for SDSU and the university community.
