Navy wins federal judgment on Broadway Complex
The $1.2 billion redevelopment of the Navy’s downtown waterfront complex overcame a federal court challenge Wednesday when a judge ruled against environmentalists’ complaints that the project did not fully address terrorism issues raised by the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Judge Jeffrey T. Miller said a new environmental assessment is not necessary and the Navy does not have to consider other places to build its new headquarters as the critics proposed.
The project, first conceived in 1986, is a joint venture between the Navy and U-T Publisher and developer Douglas F. Manchester, who won a 99-year lease of the 16-acre property from the Navy in 2006.
Under a congressional mandate authorized in 1986, Manchester agreed to build the Navy a new headquarters for free at what is called the Navy Broadway Complex, opposite the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. The Navy currently occupies buildings dating back to the 1920s at the site of what was originally a Navy supply center.
In exchange Manchester won development rights for the balance of the eight-block site. Manchester plans a series of office and hotel towers and retail and museum space in a master plan that is intended to add thousands of hotel visitors, office workers and shoppers to North Embarcadero waterfront, where beautification is already under way.
“We have a ways to go but no question, this is a huge milestone,” said Perry Dealy, Manchester’s project consultant.
Ian Trowbridge, co-chairman of the Navy Broadway Complex Coalition, which sued the Navy, said he expects the group will “absolutely appeal” the decision.
“I think the judge completely ignored the expert witness ... on terrorism, and as a non-lawyer, I think Miller made a huge mistake there,” Trowbridge said.
Trowbridge’s group argued that the Navy’s environmental assessment did not adequately consider possible terrorist threats to the site. Miller said the “level of detail and depth of analysis” demanded by the coalition “exceeds the scope and demands” of federal environmental law.
Adm. Dixon Smith, the Navy’s southwest regional commander, issued a statement that he was “extremely pleased” with the ruling and would “need a few days to digest” the contents and confer with Manchester.
“Our commitment to this project is unwavering and this redevelopment is in the best interests of the Navy and the city of San Diego,” he said.
Even if Navy overcomes an appeal, it still faces objections from the California Coastal Commission, which revoked its project approval last year, saying downtown has seen so many changes since approval was granted in the early 1990s that a new review is needed.