The NAVWAR location near San Diego's Old Town is more than 80 years old and, according to military officials, is no longer fit for the job.
“They're running a very high-tech operation out of, basically, warehouses right now,” said CEO Ted Eldridge, Manchester Financial Group
“NAVWAR in particular is kind of the cyber geeks of the U.S. Navy,” said Greg Geisen, NAVWAR project manager. “We do all the communications, all the networking, all the cyber hardware, most security of the networks on board ships, aircraft and submarines.”
These “cyber geeks” need a new home, and the developers at Manchester want to give it to them.
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Eldridge said getting the Navy a new building is the first priority for the site and that there are a few ideas in the hat about what to do with the rest of the property. Park areas, retail, a few hundred hotel rooms and thousands of housing units are all on the table.
“I think, overall, it's going to be a little mini downtown when it's done,” Eldridge said.
Back in 2019, project managers got pushback from neighbors who saw early sketch plans and were concerned about how such a big project would affect their neighborhood.
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“We assure you that those big long, great gray buildings that were in the environmental impact statement are not the same as what's going to be on this site eventually,” Geisen said.
The developers said they’re committed to being good neighbors.
“If we're just going down our own road and not listen to anybody, that's not a good neighbor,” Eldridge said. “That's not a good developer, either.”
Developers hope to be able to break ground within the next two years.
The Navy encourages interested neighbors to sign up for the project mailing list to get updates about the project.
