REAL ESTATE: WORK STARTS ON $79.6M PROJECT

Construction is scheduled to start this month on the long-awaited East Village Green – a 4.1 acre community park that will include a 13,657-square-foot community center, an underground parking garage, a children’s playground, an outdoor stage, dog parks, a water fountain and a games area.

Brian Schoenfisch Deputy Director City of San Diego Development Services

West Reese CEO Barnhart-Reese Construction

“This will be downtown’s largest park and it’s also such an important park,” said Brian Schoenfisch, City of San Diego deputy director of Development Services.

“There’s a focus on creating active play spaces all across downtown,” Schoenfisch said. “It’s important that we do attract a diversity of different people and families downtown, especially as we recover from the pandemic.”

Two cafes that were originally part of the project were put on hold when the cost of the project ballooned from an initial estimate of $52.3 million to $79.6 million, due largely to rising construction costs and the increased cost of materials, Schoenfisch said, adding that the  cafes could be added back into the project if the city can find a way to pay for them.

“They’re still in the plan,” Schoenfisch said. “They just haven’t been fully funded yet.”

A decorative shade structure for a planned park performance pavilion also has been deleted to save money, he added.

Enjoyable

With construction expected to finish in early 2025, the park site is bounded by 13th, F, 14th, and G streets and includes a 20,000-square-foot parcel at the northeast corner of 14th and G streets.

The park brackets 14th St., where landscaping will be added to make it part of a greenway that connects parks throughout downtown. The street will be closed on weekends and for special events, Schoenfisch said.

“The intent of the 14th Street greenway is not only to expand the acreage but to make the experience of walking (downtown) more enjoyable for people, especially families with children,” Schoenfisch said.

The two-story community center will include a 4,500-square-foot gym, a basketball half-court, a pickle ball court, indoor and outdoor restrooms, a 180-square-foot training kitchen, a 166-square-foot commercial kitchen, and two community rooms of about 850 square feet each.

There also will be 11 public restroom stalls scattered throughout the park, Schoenfisch said.

The 8,600-square-foot children’s playground will include what Schoenfisch described as a ground-level splash fountain that children can run through and play in.

The playground also will have a rock-climbing tower and climbing boulders.

A separate 1,000-square-foot outdoor game area will include two concrete ping pong tables.

The 12,500-square-foot dog park will include separate areas for big and small dogs, a looped walking path, benches and lights for evening strolls.

The two-level underground garage will have 176-spaces and feature a landscaped roof at ground level.

Largest Project

East Village “is downtown’s most diverse community. The East Village Green includes these amenities that will encourage people to spend more time in these public spaces,” Schoenfisch said.

Two historic buildings – the Murray Apartment Buildings and the Daggett Family Residence – will be moved to the edge of the park to a 10,000-square-foot site along the south side of F Street between 14th and 15th streets.

The houses will be repaired and restored.

Existing warehouses on the site were razed.

The architects on the project were OJB Landscape Architects with San Diego County offices in Solana Beach and Safdie Rabines based in Mission Hills.

Rancho Bernardo-based Barnhart-Reese Construction, Inc. was awarded the $60.1 million construction contract for the project.

The additional cost of the overall $79.6 million cost of the project covers so-called soft costs such as the park’s design and a $1 million contingency fund to cover unexpected costs.

The East Village Green will be the largest project that Barnhart-Reese has ever done, said CEO West Reese, although the family-owned company’s predecessor, Douglas E. Barnhart, built some of the more prominent buildings in San Diego.

“This project is significant and important to use because it’s one of our largest projects with Barnhart-Reese, we’re working downtown, and we haven’t done a lot of work downtown,” Reese said.

Barnhart-Reese’s other projects have included the Sharp Chula Vista Cancer Center, San Diego Bayside Fire Station #2, UC San Diego Spanos Athletic Performance Center, Southwestern College Public Safety Training Center, and Skyline Hills Branch Library.

Barnhart-Reese
Founded: 2008
President: Tami Barnhart-Reese
CEO: West Reese
Headquarters: Rancho Bernardo
Business: Family-owned builder specializing in civic, design-build, education, energy efficiency, industrial/commercial and modernization projects.
Employees:  55
Website: www.barnhartreese.com
Contact: 858-592-6500
Social Impact: Supports SDSU Engineering Foundation, USD Foundation, MiraCosta College Education Foundation and Southwestern College Foundation.
Notable: Barnhart-Reese is run by the daughter and son-in-law of longtime San Diego developer Doug Barnhart