Construction work for a new Chula Vista deveopment project along the bay which will include a resort hotel and convention center began this week. At approximately 535 acres, the project seeks to transform a largely vacant and underutilized industrial landscape into a thriving recreational, residential and resort destination on the Chula Vista waterfront.

The Port of San Diego began importing 210,000 cubic yards of soil to the site of the planned resort hotel and convention center, and another 60,000 cubic yards to an adjacent site, on Wednesday, June 27. The soil is needed to increase elevation to accommodate for future sea level rise and to improve drainage.

This part of the project will require 200 to 400 truck trips per day, which could impact traffic in the area. The Port requests patience from the public and businesses in the area during this project. Trucks will be transporting the soil to the bayfront between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and potentially some Saturdays during two time periods. The first time period began on Wednesday, June 27 and is scheduled to wrap up around Friday, July 20. The second time period is tentatively scheduled to begin on August 7 and is anticipated to go through late September 2018. Trucks will be entering and exiting Interstate 5 via H Street, traveling along H Street between I-5 and Marina Parkway, and crossing Sandpiper Way north of Bayside Parkway.

Additionally, crews are conducting demolition work just southeast of H Street and Marina Parkway at a site formerly occupied by now-defunct Rohr Industries. The work primarily involves the removal of concrete foundation slabs and asphalt pads. Demolition began on June 4, 2018 and is anticipated to be completed around August 8, 2018. After demolition is complete, grading activities will take place until mid-October. Equipment and trucks will enter the bayfront from southbound Interstate 5 via J Street to Marina Parkway and will exit via Marina Parkway to H Street.

The Chula Vista Bayfront resort hotel and convention center will be constructed between H and G Streets west of Marina Parkway. It will be developed by RIDA Chula Vista, LLC and operated by Gaylord Hotels, Marriott International’s convention hotel brand. The hotel will include approximately 1,600 hotel rooms, 275,000 usable square feet of convention and meeting space and associated retail and resort-level amenities such as restaurant/bar/lounge facilities, recreational facilities, a spa, a pool with a lazy river, bike and boat rentals and more.

According to information by the Port of San Diego, the construction on public infrastructure improvements associated with the hotel project could get underway as soon as 2019, which includes additional site preparation, building access roads and new public streets (portions of E, G and H Streets), providing utility services and building the new Harbor Park.

The resort hotel and convention center is the centerpiece and catalyst project of the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan (CVBMP), a decade-long joint planning effort by the Port, the City of Chula Vista and a broad coalition of stakeholders. The CVBMP was collaboratively planned through extensive public outreach that included more than 100 community meetings and resulted in a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report and Port Master Plan Amendment, which was approved by the Board of Port Commissioners in May 2010 and certified by the California Coastal Commission in August 2012. When complete, the public will enjoy more than 200 acres of parks and open space, a shoreline promenade, walking trails, RV camping, shopping, dining and more.