SAN DIEGO -- The Port of San Diego Board of Commissioners is scheduled Thursday afternoon to select a firm to develop what is now mostly vacant property on the east side of Harbor Island.
Port staff recommends a proposal by OliverMcMillan Inc., which built Village Hillcrest, the Uptown District in Hillcrest and the University City headquarters of Science Applications International Corp., among other projects. The other finalist out of six submissions is Sunroad Enterprises.
According to a staff report, OliverMcMillan's proposal -- at $782 million on the low end to $978 million on the high end -- calls for up to 1,500 hotel rooms, a "boatel" of as many as 300 rooms, waterfront shops and a seaplane exhibit operated in partnership with the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The exhibit would celebrate a location where seaplanes were built and launched.
The 57-acre project would also include a new headquarters for the Port of San Diego and Harbor Police.
Sunroad's $600 million proposal was similar but would add a conference center and connections to a nearby marina it owns.
Some of the property was vacated earlier this year when a new rental car facility opened on the other side of adjacent Lindbergh Field. The current Harbor PD building and a staging area for taxis still occupies the land.
Selection of a developer by the commissioners would open an exclusive negotiating window of between nine months and one year for port staff and the company to iron out details and prepare environmental studies.
