Fortunately there’s going to be a part two to the Otay Ranch amendment hearing because there is plenty more to digest (though in reality you have to wonder if it’s a formality given how highly developers are regarded by some members of the council).
On Tuesday the Chula Vista City Council listened to a proposed amendment to the Otay Ranch General Development Plan allowing Baldwin & Sons to tweak their money-making game plan.
Currently the chunk of land they own north of Otay Ranch Town Center and near SR-125 is only permitted for commercial use. Think cavernous stores and massive swaths of asphalt for parking, sort of like what the existing east side mall looks like.
The problem is that the retail market is slower than a frozen drawl and online shopping is making it easier for people to stay home and consume rather than leaving their homes to visit the nearest Anthropologie.
Given the current landscape, Baldwin & Sons wants a change to the rules allowing them to build mixed-use on nearly 30 acres of land, a combination of commercial and residential building. Can’t blame them, really, since big-box retailers aren’t knocking down doors to set up shop in that neck of the woods.
Developers, like us, have to make money and eat and you can’t make money if all you’re holding is an empty lot that doesn’t generate revenue.
What’s particularly fascinating, however, is that part of the proposal includes the construction of not one but two hotels, totaling an additional 300 rooms.
Where have I been? I didn’t know east Chula Vista was a mecca for money-spending voyeurs. How long have tour buses been carting people around this city’s planned communities in hopes of catching glimpses of the middle class and obscure? Is Otay Ranch Town Center a covert vacation destination? Are families spending their life savings so they can eat at Buffalo Wild Wings and watch movies at AMC Theatres all weekend? Just who will be staying at these proposed hotels? Moms and dads taking their kids down the street for a fabulous stay-cation?
Representatives of Baldwin & Sons told the council that one of the proposed hotels would be Mariott Residence Inn, providing 148 rooms for, presumably, the business class and others who need temporary long-term housing.
I don’t get out much to the east side. In fact, I die a little when I imagine having to drive all that way through the stop lights and traffic. So maybe there’s been a boom in business parks and tourist attractions that have created a demand for hotel housing in ECV. But if there hasn’t been, then who is going to stay in those hotels and where are they going?
Go figure: two hotels in the east side. Who knew there was a need?
