A downtown block across from San Diego City College has sat vacant – paused as if under construction – for more than a decade, after it was stalled by the discovery of a fault line running directly beneath it.
In 2014, Liberty National Corporation purchased four plots worth over $5 million on Park Boulevard and Broadway – right across the road from City College’s library. The land was leveled, removing students’ go-to Mexican and Chinese restaurants.
But while digging the foundation, the company discovered an earthquake fault line dividing the property in half, forcing them back to the drawing board. Liberty bought the rest of the block in 2019, describing it as “a strategic acquisition given our interests in the area and its location,” said vice president Randy Williams.
The company proposed a 40-story apartment tower and two midrise buildings, adding 640 new apartments right next to the trolley. Liberty later withdrew the proposal.
Rendering of Liberty National’s East Village mixed-use project site, released in 2019. (Courtesy of Liberty National)Lisa Chaddock is a professor of geology at City College who has surveyed surrounding fault lines for the Department of Homeland Security. She helped strengthen the school’s earthquake defenses, changing emergency plans and advising on the design of the Science Building.
Her classroom used to be in the R Building, which Chaddock describes as “strange.” It was moved from its original location because it was on a fault line. It is now between two faults with massive posts added for stability. The college is continuing its efforts to secure student safety, renovating the administrative building with updated earthquake protection, according to Chaddock.
Professor Lisa Chaddock in her office at San Diego City College. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Buildings on top of fault lines can act as wedges, increasing stress and raising safety issues. Damages are a concern, but installing costly safety systems in large buildings can dissuade development.
“One can never tell what’s in the mind of the developers, other than, is it profitable or is it not? It could be that mitigation would be so expensive, that it’s not worth it,” said Chaddock. “Building on top of a fault that’s crossing a major fault would probably require an upper-level counterweight to keep the building from shaking apart – that’s super expensive.”
Faults in the East Village branch off from the Rose Canyon fault, the region’s primary seismic hazard, that created the San Diego Bay.
Despite its significance, scientists know very little about the Rose Canyon fault. San Diego’s urbanization covered up the fault before it could be studied. It is unclear if Liberty National knew of the fault’s existence before they dug, but the issue was clear after they completed a land survey.
Thomas Rockwell, a professor of Geological Sciences at San Diego State University, is a foremost researcher on the fault system and personally surveyed the property. Most of the geologists in San Diego were his students at one point, and he received a call to examine the grounds after the foundation was dug.
Professor Thomas Rockwell in his underground office at SDSU. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Rockwell explains that the developers expected the fault to cross through the northwest corner of the property, near C Street and 13th Street.
“This is a problem because it dissected the property. They’d have to put in two separate towers with a setback, which they could do. It all depends on how far they’d have to offset the building footprint from the fault,” Rockwell said.
It is not known what setback was decided on at Liberty National’s East Village property.
Liberty has submitted multiple proposals to the city since its original plans fell through. James Alexander of the Development Services Department has assisted the company.
“We’ve got a lot of concepts and proposals over the years. They have preliminary reviews, but nothing has been done and there’s been no permits issued for construction,” said Alexander. “Nothing has changed on that property for ten years — but there’s a hole there now.”
Liberty’s project has been so delayed it has outlived the agency that first approved it. Civic San Diego was a redevelopment program responsible for downtown projects until it dissolved in FY 2020, becoming the city’s Development Services Department.
The fault line that dissects Liberty National’s East Village property. It is registered as an active Holocene fault, meaning it has shown activity in the last 11,700 years since the last ice age. (Image courtesy of SANDAG)Alexander, formerly at Civic SD, has assisted Liberty since the beginning. He worked to approve the company’s plans in 2018, ahead of their apartment tower proposal.
“There’s nothing that’s happened over the past four or five years on this — nothing of substance. We want the site developed, it’s been a hole in the ground for many years,” said Alexander.
“In downtown, mixed uses are allowed everywhere, you could do almost anything, but housing is our priority. Especially right across the street from a pretty major transit hub, with the trolley and the buses, it’s a great spot for high density housing, making the most of the location.”
Liberty National did not respond to requests for comment. They were a client of BCI Public Relations, but the firm has not worked with Liberty “for a couple years,” said President Beth Binger.
Despite the delays, Liberty is holding on. The firm has paid all its property taxes on time. This year, the charge on just one of their six sections of land cost the company over $28,000, according to the County Treasurer-Tax Collector.
If Liberty National does still intend to develop, Chaddock says a block-sized tower on top of a fault is out of the question due to damage risks.
Chaddock says lighter mixed-use structures could go on the land without much problem. Replacing the lost restaurants would be a profitable venture, given their proximity to hungry students in search of a quick, cheap meal.
Kevin Cruz is a mathematics student at San Diego City College; he plans to be a teacher at his high school when he graduates. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Kevin Cruz, a mathematics student at City College, doesn’t believe new housing would benefit students, saying that “most people don’t live here anyway.” He does have a unique suggestion for how to use the land.
“Since it’s close to the trolley, I’d want to see communal space. They should have bowling,” said Cruz. “SDSU and UCSD have bowling, but there’s nothing near us.”
For now, the site remains a fenced-off hole in the ground in an otherwise growing neighborhood – leaving students like Cruz to imagine what could take its place.
The City College Library, across the C Street and 13th Street intersection from Liberty National Corporation’s land. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Hence then, the article about a fault line halted plans for a 40 story tower years later the site remains a hole in the ground was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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