San Diego's Horton Plaza to Get $50m Makeover
Los Angeles–based shopping-center developer Westfield USA recently submitted plans to the city of San Diego unveiling its intention to renovate Horton Plaza, a 25-year-old mall located in the city’s historic Gaslamp Quarter.
Westfield officials confirmed they will invest $50 million toward modernizing the downtown San Diego shopping center, which is anchored by Macy’s and Nordstrom. Horton was completed in 1985 by regional developer Ernest Hahn. Westfield purchased it in 1998 for $454 million in a package deal that included the North County Fair mall in San Diego and a 1.1-million-square-foot center in Sacramento, Calif., all owned by Hahn’s TrizecHahn Corp.
The center helped to spur San Diego’s downtown renaissance in the 1980s, turning the area south of Broadway, which was once home to pawn shops and adult bookstores, into a trendy village featuring boutiques, cafeacute;s, entertainment venues and a growing residential component that spans 30,000 residents and is projected to blossom to 90,000 residents over the next few years, according to the city’s Centre City Development Corp (CCDC).
The renovation plan calls for big glass storefronts and bright faccedil;ades to replace the aging stucco structures that now front the center. The idea is to open the new wing up to neighboring Horton Park, which is listed on San Diego’s historic register. Westfield also plans to address navigation issues within the 800,000-square-foot center. Access is currently provided through an incongruous set of escalators and stairwells that force shoppers to walk several hundred yards to get to all of the center’s floors.
Westfield needs to gain design-review approvals from the CCDC and resubmit an application before construction starts. The company, whose global headquarters are in Australia, is also redeveloping the Westfield Shoppingtown UTC in La Jolla, Calif., where last month it installed 100-kilowatt solar panels above the center’s ice rink. —Robert McAllister
