Opinion: The Best Team and Best Plan for the Sports Arena is Midway Village+
TIMES OF SAN DIEGO
Monday, April 18, 2022
by Aruna Doddapaneni, Michael McCann, Kunal Merchant, and Arnulfo Manriquez
San Diego has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the aging Sports Arena District and create a model of vibrant, diverse, and inclusive development.
It’s no surprise the opportunity to redevelop the site has attracted interest from many worthy bidders. It’s also no surprise that City officials have emphasized the need to construct a significant number of new affordable homes for local residents.
But while those goals are both laudable and understandable, a winning team for the Midway District will have to deliver much more for San Diego.
Midway Village+ is that team. Here are four reasons why:
Quality and Quantity of Affordable Housing
First and foremost, Midway Village+ proposes a significant number of new affordable housing units — 1,610 in total. When you include our homes for middle-income families, our affordable and middle-income numbers increase to 2,208 units, or more than half of the 4,210 new homes called for by Midway Village+.
Moreover, our focus is to build new homes — not just “housing units.” While raw unit counts matter, so too does the extent to which those units address the unmet housing needs in our community.
Within our affordable housing plan, we offer 640 two- and three-bedroom homes to accommodate larger and multigenerational families. We also are pledging to build dedicated homes for seniors while providing facilities for on-site preschool and childcare.
We are the only team with a plan that includes permanent supportive housing — 116 new homes, including 36 specifically for kids transitioning out of foster care. And Midway Village+ is the only team with a groundbreaking partnership with Habitat for Humanity to build 100 for-sale affordable homes.
Most Jobs and Biggest Impact
Our plan also offers the greatest potential for job creation and economic development for years to come. We are the only team to propose three entertainment venues — not only a new 15,000-seat world-class arena, but also a new 3,500-seat events hall and a 12,000-seat soccer stadium for the San Diego Loyal.
We were the first team to formalize labor commitments that ensure a development that provides high-quality, living-wage jobs. In fact, we’re proud that our leadership team includes executives responsible for some of the most impactful economic and community benefits initiatives in the state.
Track Record and Financial Wherewithal
Together, our team has developed and managed more than 107,000 multifamily housing units, 12 world-class arenas and stadiums, 60 million square feet of mixed-use development, and $40 billion in development.
As a Fortune 500 company with more than $11 billion in assets, Toll Brothers has a long and celebrated track record of master planning and housing development. The San Francisco Business Times recently named BRIDGE Housing as Nonprofit Developer of the Year.
Revitate’s arena team played a central role in the development of two of California’s most recent major arena districts in Sacramento and San Francisco — both of which won the prestigious national Sports Facility of Year award from the Sports Business Journal. And who in the San Diego housing world doesn’t know and trust MAAC and Habitat for Humanity?
Simply put, our team has the expertise and deep pockets to ensure that beautiful renderings become a compelling reality.
Public-Private Expertise and Community Commitment
Lastly, we celebrate the collaborative nature of this project, and the unique dynamics that accompany public-private partnerships. We understand the central role city officials and the community play in this process.
We’ve lived through the inevitable ups and downs of these types of large, complex, multifaceted, and multistakeholder projects – not just as developers, but as senior city officials, nonprofit executives, community advocates, and residents. We’ve invested the time to create a plan that delivers on the goals, needs, and aspirations of our community — something made clear last year when our plan finished in first place among the competition with 64% of the public’s support in a city-organized survey.
We are humbled to have exclusive endorsements from a growing roster of civic leaders including Bill Walton, Challenged Athletes Foundation, Circulate San Diego, and New Children’s Museum, and we will continue to engage fellow San Diegans.
In the coming months, our Mayor, City Council, and community will move closer to one of the most important and potentially transformative opportunities in city history. We are honored to be part of this conversation, and fully committed to creating a place that will inspire more redevelopment in the Midway District — a new and modern village worthy of this great city.
Aruna Doddapaneni is Senior Vice President of Development for BRIDGE Housing. Michael McCann is Regional Director for Acquisitions and Development for Toll Brothers Apartment Living. Kunal Merchant is Partner and Chief Operating Officer for Revitate. Arnulfo Manriquez is President and Chief Executive Officer of MAAC.