SAN DIEGO—Completing excavation for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and signing the first retail tenant for the BRIC mixed-use development on San Diego's North Embarcadero brings us closer to exciting attractions on Downtown's waterfront, Portman Holdings' SVP of development Roger Zampell tells GlobeSt.com. The hotel excavation represents the completion of a significant milestone for the second phase of the project's development. The hotel is the first key construction landmark for Lankford Phelps Portman, a real estate joint venture comprised of Portman Holdings, Lankford & Associates and Hensel Phelps, the collective team behind BRIC, since the groundbreaking on June 2 on the Port of San Diego site.

In addition, the development team has confirmed that the first retail tenant to move into Phase One of the development—a dual-branded 147-room Residence Inn and a 253-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott that opened in February 2016—will be Beach Hut Deli and Ryan Bros. Coffee, which will occupy a shared space.

We spoke exclusively with Zampell about the next step for BRIC's development and what the project means for Downtown San Diego (for a drone video that gives a bird's-eye view of the bottoming-out of the InterContinental, click here; password: hp).

GlobeSt.com: What's the next step for the development of BRIC?

Zampell: There are numerous steps, but they key point we were trying to make is we finished excavation and now have started vertical construction. Sometime in December, we will start seeing the building rise out of the hole that's there and start to take shape. You're always nervous about digging holes in areas near a lot of water in them, and we got that process behind us.

GlobeSt.com: What obstacles did you encounter in the hotel excavation, and how did you overcome them?

Zampell: All of that site is basically landfill with a high water table, and we ran into a few issues with it. In effect, you're building a bathtub, and you have to go down below the water table for excavation and pump this water out and filter it—we have tanks on the side are for this—to be put back into storm water where it goes. But all that's done, and it's designed and meets with environmental approvals and the coastal commission and so on. a few issues. It was major, but it didn't slow the project down. The bottom line is that we finished the excavation without any hiccups and moved on to vertical construction.

GlobeSt.com: What does this project mean for Downtown San Diego and San Diego as a real estate market?

Zampell: Our concept for the whole site is to develop a complex with its own critical mass to be a destination on the waterfront, which follows the Port's master plan for San Diego. It starts to become another destination for both visitors and local residents alike to as a reason to come and enjoy the area and San Diego as a whole. Our project which will have 800 rooms, plus the adjacent 600 rooms in the existing hotels, so that means 1,400 hotel rooms in this development, which is as big as some of the big hotels near the convention center.

We also have space leased up for the first retail tenant, and there's also interest in retail space for the InterContinental side of the street now as well. The whole plan is to build momentum here and start to create a waterfront complex that will draw more people to the waterfront. The Midway now has more annual visitors than Alcatraz, making it the most visited tourist attraction in the state, so a lot is going on on the waterfront—including Seaport Village. The emphasis is to bring some excitement to the waterfront, to create some attractions. Between our project and Wyndham's, they're moving forward with their long-term master-plan, and the Anthony's redevelopment, along with county's administration's waterfront park, has been huge success. Now it's time to start building out the North Embarcadero vision plan as intended and create a real active waterfront.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this most recent step in the process of BRIC's development?

Zampell: We're still on track to complete the project in September 2018.

SAN DIEGO—Completing excavation for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and signing the first retail tenant for the BRIC mixed-use development on San Diego's North Embarcadero brings us closer to exciting attractions on Downtown's waterfront, Portman Holdings' SVP of development Roger Zampell tells GlobeSt.com. The hotel excavation represents the completion of a significant milestone for the second phase of the project's development. The hotel is the first key construction landmark for Lankford Phelps Portman, a real estate joint venture comprised of Portman Holdings, Lankford & Associates and Hensel Phelps, the collective team behind BRIC, since the groundbreaking on June 2 on the Port of San Diego site.

In addition, the development team has confirmed that the first retail tenant to move into Phase One of the development—a dual-branded 147-room Residence Inn and a 253-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott that opened in February 2016—will be Beach Hut Deli and Ryan Bros. Coffee, which will occupy a shared space.

We spoke exclusively with Zampell about the next step for BRIC's development and what the project means for Downtown San Diego (for a drone video that gives a bird's-eye view of the bottoming-out of the InterContinental, click here; password: hp).

GlobeSt.com: What's the next step for the development of BRIC?

Zampell: There are numerous steps, but they key point we were trying to make is we finished excavation and now have started vertical construction. Sometime in December, we will start seeing the building rise out of the hole that's there and start to take shape. You're always nervous about digging holes in areas near a lot of water in them, and we got that process behind us.

GlobeSt.com: What obstacles did you encounter in the hotel excavation, and how did you overcome them?

Zampell: All of that site is basically landfill with a high water table, and we ran into a few issues with it. In effect, you're building a bathtub, and you have to go down below the water table for excavation and pump this water out and filter it—we have tanks on the side are for this—to be put back into storm water where it goes. But all that's done, and it's designed and meets with environmental approvals and the coastal commission and so on. a few issues. It was major, but it didn't slow the project down. The bottom line is that we finished the excavation without any hiccups and moved on to vertical construction.

GlobeSt.com: What does this project mean for Downtown San Diego and San Diego as a real estate market?

Zampell: Our concept for the whole site is to develop a complex with its own critical mass to be a destination on the waterfront, which follows the Port's master plan for San Diego. It starts to become another destination for both visitors and local residents alike to as a reason to come and enjoy the area and San Diego as a whole. Our project which will have 800 rooms, plus the adjacent 600 rooms in the existing hotels, so that means 1,400 hotel rooms in this development, which is as big as some of the big hotels near the convention center.

We also have space leased up for the first retail tenant, and there's also interest in retail space for the InterContinental side of the street now as well. The whole plan is to build momentum here and start to create a waterfront complex that will draw more people to the waterfront. The Midway now has more annual visitors than Alcatraz, making it the most visited tourist attraction in the state, so a lot is going on on the waterfront—including Seaport Village. The emphasis is to bring some excitement to the waterfront, to create some attractions. Between our project and Wyndham's, they're moving forward with their long-term master-plan, and the Anthony's redevelopment, along with county's administration's waterfront park, has been huge success. Now it's time to start building out the North Embarcadero vision plan as intended and create a real active waterfront.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this most recent step in the process of BRIC's development?

Zampell: We're still on track to complete the project in September 2018.