Escondido officials plan to spend $1 million during 2012 demolishing several city-owned buildings in prime locations.
The goal of the demolition is to clear land for a hoped-for technology business park near the Interstate 15-Highway 78 interchange, and to accelerate development of the Mercado District, an area between downtown and I-15 that city officials want to redevelop into something similar to Old Town San Diego.
"Demolishing the buildings and getting the land ready for development makes it more attractive," Mayor Sam Abed said last week. "It says we are open for business."
City officials plan to solicit proposals from demolition firms early this year to reduce the overall cost of the work, which could include more than a dozen structures. Hiring one firm would be less costly than hiring firms one at a time for each demolition, city officials said.
The demolitions would include all the structures on the city's 18-acre public works yard on Quince Street, as well as several nearby properties the city bought in the past 18 months to assemble land for a proposed minor league ballpark between Quince and Spruce streets.
Escondido also plans to demolish the Lopez Market at Second Avenue and Centre City Parkway, a property on the southeastern edge of the Mercado District that the city bought in summer 2010.
City officials say the ballpark won't be built because the city's redevelopment agency, which would have paid for the $50 million project, was killed by Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature last year. A legal challenge to the end of redevelopment agencies was struck down last week by the California Supreme Court, sealing the ballpark's fate.
But Abed said city officials still plan to clear the 27 acres the city owns there to make way for a technology business park. He said prospects for such a park would improve with the demolitions.
"Developers can be discouraged by delays," Abed said, adding that dozens of developers have expressed interest in that area since the ballpark proposal drew more attention to it. "Our goal is to be as ready as possible when the economy gets going."
The demolition on the former ballpark site, which is on the northwestern edge of downtown, would include the former site of Cocina del Charro restaurant and sites now occupied by HD Plumbing Supply and Wickline Bedding.
The city spent $5.5 million in December 2011 on the 4-acre HD Plumbing site on Spruce Street, and $6.6 million last May on nearly 5 acres along Quince Street occupied by Cocina del Charro and Wickline.
City officials said the public works yard structures could be demolished as soon city crews move to an alternate site on Harmony Grove Road that the city bought for $6 million in late 2010. That site should be ready by late spring, they said.
City Manager Clay Phillips said last week that the city might delay demolition of the HD Plumbing and Wickline sites because the city is collecting rent from tenants at those properties.
The former site of Cocina del Charro, a popular Mexican restaurant that moved to Valley Parkway last spring, has been used for police and fire training since the city bought it. But city officials said prospects for finding a tenant were quite low.
They said the same was true of the Lopez Market, a vacant site the city bought for $780,000 to accelerate development of the Mercado District. Merchants in the Mercado have suggested the site could become parking, but city officials want to keep their options open.
Development of the Mercado gained some momentum last summer when a $2.2 million sidewalk and street upgrade was completed on Grand Avenue between Quince Street and Centre City Parkway.
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