The Port of San Diego and its partners at Protea Properties and SLP Urban Planning have been recognized with the prestigious Economic Prosperity Award for the revitalization of Seaport Village. Part of the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s “Create the Future Awards” program, the award is presented in recognition of efforts to advance, secure, or introduce innovative ideas to downtown San Diego’s economy. The award was presented at a ceremony held March 24, 2022, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
The successful repositioning and revitalization of Seaport Village is a result of the shared vision and collaboration efforts among the Port, Protea, and SLP Urban Planning.
With nearly $8 million in operational and financial investments made by the Port, which took ownership of Seaport Village in 2018, the partners have transformed the waterfront shopping, dining, and entertainment center with a strategy that artfully combines strategic site enhancements and activations, community engagement, placemaking, human-centered design, and integrated communications.
“Thanks to our revitalization efforts at Seaport Village, San Diegans are rediscovering our waterfront hub and taking notice of its forward evolution – it’s always been beloved by tourists, and now it’s becoming a San Diego hotspot as well. It’s also attracting the attention of major regional players in the food and beverage space,” said Chairman Dan Malcolm, Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners. “We are honored to receive the Economic Prosperity Award for this effort and proud to collaborate with Protea and SLP Urban Planning on Seaport’s success.”
Since the Port took over Seaport Village, the retail center has gone from 20 vacancies to four vacancies, achieved in close coordination with the Port’s leasing broker, Retail Insite. Operating at 94% occupancy, Seaport Village has a variety of exciting offerings for guests and visitors, including specialty retail shops, full-service and fast-casual restaurants, and outdoor entertainment.
“We are so delighted that our collaborative and innovative approach is being recognized by the Downtown San Diego Partnership,” said Stacey Pennington, President, SLP Urban Planning. “We couldn’t have asked for better partners in the conceptualization and execution of a vision and strategic plan that included robust data collection and human centered design strategies resulting in immersive and experiential art installations and robust regular programming.”
The team’s approach to repositioning the property was extensively and closely coordinated with existing tenants and businesses. Despite recent impacts to the retail market and overall economy from the COVID-19 pandemic, Seaport Village not only retained local businesses but secured over a dozen new leases and demonstrated a more than 100% increase in engagement on social media and beyond.
“We’re elated for Seaport Village’s interim activations to be honored as an impactful initiative contributing to the economic prosperity of downtown San Diego’s waterfront,” says Jeffrey Essakow,
Success of the project can also be attributed to a thoughtful schedule of activations, an artist-in-residence program, a podcast studio, a monthly live music series, and improvements such as refreshed signage, common areas, landscaping, and new exterior paint. One of the most popular improvements has been the creation of an urban beach with flexible seating.
The brand positioning, interventions, site improvements, activations, educational entertainment as well as traditional entertainment and arts partnerships have all resulted in an enlivened Seaport Village which has become a vibrant and prosperous waterfront destination for all who live, work and play on and around San Diego Bay.
