On November 30, 2012, the San Diego Union Tribune (
visit link) ran the following story:
"Belmont Park getting a makeover
By Lori Weisberg | 6:01 p.m. Nov. 30, 2012
After more than a year of legal and financial limbo,Belmont Park is in the hands of a new operator who plans to invest millions of dollars to upgrade the Mission Beach landmark, add new restaurants and repair the historic Plunge pool.
Rancho Santa Fe-based Pacifica Enterprises, a real estate investment firm, is teaming with the Pacific Beach company, Eat.Drink.Sleep, to transform the city-owned park into a retail, dining and entertainment venue that they say will draw locals and tourists year-round.
“We think Belmont Park has great stature in San Diego, but it’s been left unimproved for too long, and we’re in the business of turning around assets,” said Nicolas Biancamano, director of acquisitions for Pacifica, which this month acquired the park leasehold in a trustee sale. “We have a stronger pull with national tenants and more capital available to make improvements, and as you make improvements, you can attract more tenants who can bring traffic to the site 365 days a year rather than just in the summer.”
Pacifica takes over following an increasingly troubled relationship between the city of San Diego and the previous operator, Tom Lochtefeld.
The San Diego businessman oversaw the comeback of the beachfront park over the past decade, more than doubling the venue’s annual revenues to more than $20 million. But last year Lochtefeld sued the city for $25 million after a rent dispute that eventually led him to file for bankruptcy and cost him his rights to the master lease.
He had planned to develop a hotel and water attractions that he said would make the site more economically viable but claimed the city rejected those efforts. While Lochtefeld took advantage of rent credits that kept his lease payments to $70,000 a year, he had amassed more than $17 million in debt as he spent some $6 million on improvements, including $2.8 million on two wave machines.
The city expects roughly $500,000 in rent revenue from Belmont Park during the current fiscal year, although it’s in the process of lease negotiations with Pacifica, said James Barwick, San Diego’s director of real estate.
Pacifica’s plans to redevelop the park, while still sketchy, will focus initially on filling out under-utilized space, addressing the Plunge’s structural problems and adding two higher profile restaurants in the former Sound Wave entertainment space that has sat vacant for more than a year.
The park’s iconic carnival-like feel with its tilt-a-wheel and bumper car rides, midway games and burgers and soft-serve ice cream will endure, say the operators, but they want locals to feel welcome as well with a more diverse mix of neighborhood uses.
“One of the challenges Belmont faces is a lack of relevance for locals in the off-season,” said Steve Smith, vice president of operations for Eat.Drink.Sleep, which also manages the Tower 23 hotel in Pacific Beach.
“Maybe you bring in a Postal Annex-type company, so locals have more reason to come here, you could also have a mini grocery store, a locally owned coffee shop, a place that does great smoothies.”
Eat.Drink.Sleep, Smith said, will be responsible for developing two restaurants in the 12,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Sound Wave, a task he hopes to complete before the start of the summer season. One may focus on sushi, and live entertainment is envisioned for at least one of the dining spots, he said."