California Apparel News

The 20,000-plus attendes expected to visit the Sept. 10–12 run of Action Sports Retailer will get a glimpse during the trade show of the new developments underway on the San Diego waterfront.

San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, a historic district where Wyatt Earp once ran gambling halls, is continuing to get an injection of urban renewal. The district is two blocks from ASR’s main marketplace, the San Diego Convention Center, and is a gathering place for after-show partiers with its concentration of clubs and restaurants.

Next month, the 500,000-square-foot Gaslamp CitySquare at Fifth Avenue and J Street will open its first phase, which includes a 4,000-square-foot Puma Emporium flagship store and a new Quiksilver Boardriders Club store, both high-profile concepts for those companies. Condominiums and apartments have been built over the first-floor retail space, a familiar formula being seen in downtowns across the country. The first phase of the $150 million project, undertaken by Los Angeles–based Champion Development, includes 42,500 square feet of space. The second phase, an additional 25,000 square feet of retail and residential space, is expected to open in November 2005.

While Fifth Avenue is expected to become a retail spectacle as more leases are signed, Fourth Avenue will be San Diego’s answer to Restaurant Row with new concepts such as The Oceanaire Seafood Room, which will open its first Southern California location in the Gaslamp district. The restaurant usually makes the best restaurant list in every city it enters.

A new 250-room Hard Rock Hotel is slated for construction at Fifth Avenue and L Street this year and will open in the summer of 2006. The $100 million project recently received design review approvals and is expected to provide much-needed lodging space during conventions and popular events such as Mardi Gras and Street Scene.

“It will activate the area around Harbor and Fifth. It will be good for the convention people and for weekenders,” said Stephen Silke, marketing manager for the Gaslamp Quarter Association, a trade group for business owners. “During the big conventions, every place is booked.”

Rockon LLC, an affiliate of Tarsadia Hotels, will operate the San Diego Hard Rock location as a licensee of Hard Rock Cafe International Inc.

Trevor Horwell, Hard Rock’s vice president of hotels and casinos, said the project is part of a strategy to open hotels in urban core areas to help stimulate growth for the company and the cities.

Restaurants, condominiums and retail space will also be part of the finished product. “We want to create a unique experience that makes sense for the Gaslamp Quarter. Hard Rock combines all the right elements,” said Greg Casserly, president of Tarsadia Hotels.

Silke said the Hard Rock is part of a group of hotels coming to the Gaslamp district. Marriott International Inc. is planning a Renaissance hotel on J Street. The company plans to open an extended-stay hotel on the same block as the Hard Rock.

These large projects may stir up some opposition because the Gaslamp has become popular for its smaller clubs, boutiques and eateries.

“It remains to be seen. I know that everyone is generally in support of increasing the retail presence here. We need that,” Silke said. —Robert McAllister