Chula Vista banks on Gaylord’s success to fuel ambitious development vision

When the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center opened in May, Mayor John McCann saw more than just Marriott’s largest property cutting ribbons on the city’s bayfront. He saw validation.

“The Gaylord Project is a 22-year overnight success story,” McCann said, describing the decades-long journey from the 2003 Bayfront Master Plan to the 1,600-room resort that now anchors the city’s waterfront. “It took 22 years to get through the process of the California Coastal Commission, all the processing, financing, and then actually to get it built.”

Now, city and state officials are betting that success will catalyze an ambitious slate of development projects aimed at transforming the second-largest city in San Diego County into what McCann calls “the economic engine for the region.” The vision includes a bayfront sports complex, luxury housing, an entertainment district with film studios, and the crown jewel: a four-year university for a city of nearly 300,000 people.

But Chula Vista’s development track record carries cautionary notes. Major companies including Read Entire Article