Content area
Full Text
After three years of planning, McKinnon Broadcasting Co. has received final approval of the revised plans for its mixed-use project Downtown, which will house the broadcast studios and offices for KUSI-TV and 194 apartments near the San Diego Convention Center.
Kip Howard, president of Allegis Development Services Inc., is the development manager for McKinnon Properties Inc., which controls the broadcasting company's real estate interests. Howard said the project was fully approved by August 2000.
"Then we started refining the design, and to such an extent that it required new approvals," he said.
"(McKinnon Broadcasting and KUSI) had very strong ideas about the building they wanted and specifically the type of architecture. They're trying to capture an authentic Spanish colonial type of architecture, which is a challenge in a highrise," Howard said.
The architect for the 26-story, 390,000-square-foot building is Seattle-based Callison Architecture Inc.
Peter Bryan, a spokesman for San Diego City Councilman Byron Wear, said there was no one who spoke in opposition of the project at the Oct. 9 City Council meeting where the project was approved by the council, sitting as the Redevelopment Agency.
"It's quite an improvement over what was originally proposed," Bryan said.
Alleviating Neighborhood Concerns
Downtown residents - especially in the adjacent Harbor Club condominium towers - had some concerns about noise and sight lines because of the outdoor performance area, Bryan said.
The revised design moved the...