Navy Building One replaces 1920s-era waterfront warehouses, wraps up first phase of public-private pact. The Navy’s newest building, Navy Building One, overlooking San Diego Bay, will serve as headquarters for the Navy Region Southwest, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest and Navy Region Southwest Reserve Component Command. (Nelvin C. Cepeda U-T)
By Jennifer Van Grove
Project Design Consultants (PDC) provided civil engineering, surveying, and water resources services in the redevelopment of this large downtown site. This article appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune.
The Navy, following 40 years of planning and legal wrangling, is now occupying its 17-story headquarters, known as Navy Building One, at 750 Pacific Highway overlooking the San Diego Bay.
The Navy officially took possession of the 373,000-square-foot, top-of-the-line office building on Oct. 9 and expects to relocate around 1,450 staffers to the location by Nov. 20. The transition wraps up the first phase of an experimental public-private partnership that dates to 1980. That’s when the federal agency first signaled its intent to move administrative personnel out of the 1920s-era, waterfront warehouses on its 12-acre Broadway Complex between Pacific Highway and Harbor Drive.
The new building is the home base for Navy Region Southwest, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest and Navy Region Southwest Reserve Component Command. It constitutes a dramatic step up for workers. When they get to visit the site — the Navy is limiting access during the pandemic — staffers will find a host of all-new amenities, ranging from new desks and plenty of break areas to a fitness center with 3,300 square feet of indoor-outdoor space.
And with access to large decks on the 17th floor, Navy personnel will also get to take in some of the best views in the city. Additional perks include outdoor patios and balconies on the first and ninth floors, a self-service market, a barber shop and conference rooms on every floor. There are also zero-touch hand sanitizers and water stations throughout the building. In addition, there are 459 underground parking spaces and a high-speed elevator that travels from the ground to the top floor in around 35 seconds. Plus, an expansive restaurant, open to the public, is in the works for the first floor.
“I’ve never had anything like this,” Joe Stuyvesant, executive director of Navy Region of the Southwest, said during a tour of the structure. “We’ve taken an underutilized property and we’ve leveraged it into a world-class headquarters for a world-class staff.”
Stuyvesant also characterized the building as both a win for the Navy and the general public, alluding to the future fruits of a drawn-out land deal that will eventually see the federal agency’s holdings transformed into a mix of uses and open space.
However, the site’s history is a convoluted one with redevelopment challenged at every turn — California State Lands Commission, the California Coastal Commission and a citizen’s group all sought to stop progress at various times. Recessions interfered during other intervals.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, initial planning efforts for the entire complex led to a 1992 development agreement with the city of San Diego. The contract spells out what can and cannot be built on the property and is still in effect. In 2006, Manchester Financial Group was picked to build a 3 million-square-foot hotel, office and retail project, known as Manchester Pacific Gateway, in exchange for replacing the Navy headquarters. Lawsuits and financial woes repeatedly tripped up that effort with Manchester Financial last month selling the bulk of its 99-year leasehold to biotech real estate investment firm IQHQ.
Today, the Navy’s skyscraper, built and paid for entirely by Manchester Financial for an undisclosed sum, is all that currently stands on the property — save for the two dated warehouses that are scheduled to be torn down in January. But it’s a symbol for what’s to come, suggesting that the Navy Broadway Complex’s long-promised second act will actually come to fruition.
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